The Side that is Hidden
by Ichigo1010
Summary: Mikan Sakura is a cheerful and sweet, bubbly and optimistic girl who is always smiling and could not tell a good lie to save her life. She's a normal 13-year-old girl! Or at least, that's what everyone thinks... Rest of summary inside.
1. Character Stats

*Note: Mikan and friends are all 13. AKA everyone is 3 years older than in the manga.

Summary: Mikan Sakura is a cheerful and sweet, bubby and optimistic girl who is always smiling and could not tell a good lie to save her life. She's a normal 13-year-old girl! Or at least, that's what everyone thinks… the truth is, Mikan is a spy for Gakuen Alice. Ever since she was 2, she has been trained to be emotionless, ruthless, lethal, and unbeatable. Gifted with brains, beauty, strength, and speed, she is the ultimate weapon.

Character stats:

Mikan Sakura-

Age-13

Alice(s): Nullification and stealing. Stolen Alice's: Fire, electricity, water/ice, earth, metal, mind reading, speed, strength, doppelganger, human pheromone, and animal pheromone

Profile: 5'4. Long auburn hair usually tied back into pigtails and a single ponytail during missions. Hazel eyes.

Extras: Mikan acts cheerful bubbly and optimistic but she is really emotionless and cold. Mikan grew up in Kyoto (?) and has a fake persona of being happy towards everyone except for a few select higher ups in the Academy. She goes on missions at night that usually only takes one night but occasionally longer. She is the Academy's top spy. Her alias is Hell's Angel.

Natsume Hyuuga

Age-13

Alice(s): Fire

Profile: 5'9. He has messy black hair and bright crimson eyes.

Extras: Natsume is a cold character. He is best friends with Ruka and eventually Mikan. Natsume is also a spy for the academy, but is not as good as Mikan. His alias is Kuro-Neko (Black Cat)

Ruka Nogi

Age-13

Alice(s): Animal Pheromone

Profile: 5'9. Blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

Extras: He is Natsume's best friend. He is the nicer of the two and is always with Natsume.

Hotaru Imai

Age-13

Alice(s): Invention

Profile: 5'5. Short black hair and Purple eyes.

Extras: Hotaru is Mikan's child hood friend. She loves money and black mailing people with embarrassing photos, (Ruka mostly) and selling them to make profit.


	2. Prologue

**Revised: 11/24/09**

**Yeah! So.... I have a beta now~! The lovely AllAvengedromance voulenteered! Give me your opinion, ne? ^^**

**I'll be posting the revised chapters as they come! xD**

**Well, this is my first ever fanfiction. I hope that you all will enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Not mine! never has been, never will be... T-T**

***Note: All of the characters are 13 instead of 10.**

Prologue:

**Natsume POV:**

I was fighting non-stop. Burning one man to death in one moment, stabbing another in the next, ruthlessly and endlessly ending the lives of my enemies as I tried to escape the warehouse with the briefcase I had been ordered to retrieve from the AAO.

_Just how many damn guards are there, anyway?! _I thought, as I blasted yet another guard into a pyramid of barrels that instantly tumbled onto the ground in a cascading waterfall of cylinders.

Assuming I had finally killed them all, I backed up, exhausted, and sat on one of the bodies, still holding the case. _'Stupid monkeys, they didn't even bring-_'

The soft click behind me was the only warning I received,

'_-Crap'_

Just before a loud bang followed by a series of gunfire intruded upon my siesta in the midst of the carnage. Dodging the first bullet using a burst of adrenaline, I turned, and tried to incinerate the new arrivals in vain just as I felt another bullet slam against my right shoulder, preceding the expected explosion of pain. I collapsed to the ground with a painful thud and watched helplessly as the case clattered to the floor and slid away from my viselike grasp. I heard multiple footsteps approaching me and glanced up through the haze of pain to see a man holding the smoking gun that he had just shot me with. He was dressed in a neat black suit and was contemptuously staring down at me with mock pity. Behind him were five other men all dressed the same as my assultant.

"Heh," he scoffed arrogantly, "Looks like this time you lose _Kuro-Neko_." He then broke into a crazed laugh, followed by the other five.

"Shut the hell up!" I grunted, glairing at each of the men.

They looked down at me with annoyance. The gun guy raised his gun to my head, smiling evilly, and began to pull the trigger when-

BAM!

The shooter was kicked into a nearby wall, so fast, and with such force, that the wall he had hit had huge cracks in it. The man groaned and folded his body around his stomach.

The five cronies of the man with the gun watched stupidly as we saw a masked figure clad in black, its motions both smooth and graceful, walk up to the downed man. The figure simply stared at the man for a moment before pulling out a dagger honed to a sharp point and finishing him.

The five guys, getting over their shock, managed to pull themselves together and began running toward the masked one, weapons held high.

My eyes widened further as I saw the masked person seemingly disappear in a blur and reappear mere inches away from where I was still sprawled on the ground. The five men were now dead on the floor, throats slit, and blood pooling around their bodies before getting the chance to fire a single bullet.

Unsure of whether or not this person was on my side, I used what little energy I had left to push myself off the ground, and into a fighting position so that I could attempt to defend myself. Suddenly my world began to twist and wobble, as I blacked out from blood loss. I once again felt myself falling to the floor, when suddenly the masked figure caught me and gently laid me on the ground. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a faint green light, and the excruciating pain in my right shoulder began to fade away to nothing.

It was as though she was… healing me.

With the pain now gone, I sat up and for the first time got a clear look at the person who saved me. I was expecting a guy, but my assumptions were wrong because the assassin was a girl.

She was already standing up again. She stood with perfect posture and emanated a powerful and deadly aura that far surpassed my own. Her black attire consisted of a long tank top and gloves, while her arms and wrists were covered by various Alice control devices. She had black leggings on and knee-high black boots. On her right leg, there was a knife and a gun strapped on, and on her back, a sheathed katana. She had long beautiful auburn hair tied back into a ponytail, and around her neck was another control device necklace. Her mask was a delicate looking creation. It was white and had sakura blossoms scattered all across the mask in various graceful arcs and swirls. The beauty would have been stunning if there was no blood splattered over the mask, giving it a hellish look, rather than angelic.

"Now that you're healed, you should get going." She said suddenly. Her voice was beautiful, but emotionless and cold. "You are very lucky Persona had me stop by here on the way back from my mission to check up on you. Otherwise you would be dead. Be more careful next time _Kuro-Neko_."

"Hn," was my only reply as I glared at her through my mask. I finally was able to stand up, and my triumph caused me to give her a scornful look.

"Tch. Brat." She muttered. That one pissed me off. I growled at her in response.

"Well, kitten," she began mockingly, "I am afraid that I must be going now. Get back to the Academy ASAP." And with that, she began walking away.

"Wait!" I called after her. She paused. "Who are you?" I asked, my voice a mixture of curiosity, anger, and annoyance.

She let out a light and musical chuckle and replied, "They call me Hell's Angel."

And with that, she disappeared into a swirl of sakura petals.

'Hell's Angel…' I thought slowly and smirked. 'Interesting… very interesting…'

**Review! Pretty please! =3**


	3. Chapter 1

**I revised it again.... I didn't change much though. Thank you to my 3 reviewers: Amuto15, kikyorules10, and Vein's simply tired.**

**Disclaimer: *burst into tears* I *sob* do not have the luck to own Gakuen Alice. But one day..... Nah! never gonna happen! X3**

***note: Thoughts will be in _'_**_Italics'_

**Chapter 2**

Normal POV

It was a beautiful morning and all was peaceful in the town of Kyoto. The birds were singing, children were playing, and Mikan was completing her daily routine of stalking the mail man... What? You didn't know? Why of course it's normal! For Mikan that is.....

--------

A poor, unsuspecting mail man was casually walking down his mail route, whistling happily. It was his first day on the job, (the previous mail man had had a mental breakdown for some reason) and he had finally reached the final house, the Sakura residence. He walked up to the mail box and stopped to get the letters out, when he heard a rustling sound behind him. He paused momentarily but then continued on, dismissing it as an animal. He had finally gotten the mail out and was about to put it in the mail box when-

"FINALLY!" a certain auburn haired, pigtail headed girl cried out. She tackled the mail man to the ground.

"Well?! Where is it?! Where's the mail? I just HAVE to see if Hotaru finally sent me a reply to all my letters!" Mikan asked eagerly '_Ugh! I am acting like a complete idiot!' _Mikan thought, annoyed, _'Oh wait! I am an idiot! Stupid fake persona.... '_

She watched with hidden amusement as the mail man blanched. Without saying anything, he rose a shaky hand, containing several letters, which Mikan took eagerly.

"Thanks!" she said happily getting off the mail man. "You know i think tha- Ara?" she looked up from the mail only to see the him running full speed, away from her. Mikan smirked and chuckled darkly. She loved that game.

"Didn't you ever think to ask what made the previous mail man even HAVE that mental breakdown? If you had, you would have heard it was because of a girl with pigtails." she said cooly. She smiled and then looked down to start checking the mail.

Electicity Bill? No. Real-estate add? Nope!

Mikan looked through several other useless advertisements and bills until her eyes fell upon what she had been looking for. _'Perfect'_

She put all but two of the letters into the mail box. The first was from her "wonderful childhood friend" Hotaru. Hotaru... what to say about that girl? Well, the hidden side of Mikan, the true Mikan, thought Hotaru to be cold, rude, and boring. She was always hitting her with that annoying baka gun! But her happy persona thought that she was an amazing best friend who could do no wrong. Hotaru had left 6 months ago to attend the prestigious school for "geniuses", Gakuen Alice. This was THE first letter from her.

_'Arrogant twit.'_ Mikan sneered in her mind. She should have expected this from her. Hotaru always treated her as a test subject for her machines, rather than a best friend.

She then looked down to the second letter. It was from an unknown sender. But Mikan knew it was from the Academy. They were the reason she was in Kyoto anyways. They were also the reason why she had this happy act going on; it was so their precious weapon could blend in and hide from the AAO and the other enemies that they had. Mikan silently pondered why they had not simply told her the night before after her mission, or called her. But the Academy was weird that way, so she dismissed it.

Mikan stuffed the second letter into her pocket, and clutching the first tightly in her hand, switched back into bubbly mode and ran into her home screaming at her Ouji-chan that a letter had finally come from her beloved Hotaru.

----------------

**Mikan POV**

"Whyyyyyy?!" I screamed while crying water falls and complaining to my ouji-chan. But that was all on the outside. On the inside, i was annoyed that i was making such a fool out of myself. _'Seriously? Are there really 13-year-old kids who act like this? How could the academy actually tell me to create a persona like this one?' _I thought annoyed.

"U-umm... Mikan-chan, i am sure that there is a good explanation for this," my ouji-chan began nervously, "Hotaru-chan is a very lazy girl, you know? So she proba-"

"NO!" I interrupted, "There _is_ no excuse for this one! Ouji-chan, it's been 6 months and this was the first letter she sent me! And it only has two lines! TWO!" I then started bawling again and fell face first to the ground and prepared to drown in fake despair.

Believing the act, I heard ouji-chan sigh and say, "I'm sorry Mikan-chan, but... it'll be okay." And with that he left the room.

The moment i heard him walk into his own room, i stood up and wiped off the fake tears. My face was expressionless as i teleported into my room.

I pulled out the letter from the academy and read over it once.

_Hell's Angel,_

_We are expecting you back at the Academy by 11:30p.m. tonight. Meet in my office and DO NOT BE LATE. You will be staying at Gakuen Alice until further notice._

_-Persona_

_'Short and sweet.'_ I sighed and began to pack.

I leave for Gakuen Alice tonight.

**YAY! It's done! i didn't really change a lot, so it may still suck. (did i already say that?) Next time she will be at Gakuen Alice and the chapter will be longer!**

**Well, until next time!**

**BETA: i am searching for a beta! IDK what they do really, but my friend said that they will help make my story better... so... anyone willing?**


	4. Chapter 2

**Next chapter is up! Is it just me or was anyone else having problems logging in? Oh well! It works now! X3**

**Amuto15: And yeah! Mikan is being kind of mean! *Sighs* even though I am the one who wrote it, I still makes me a little sad…**

*******ATTENTION: I am looking for a Beta! (still) I really want to make my stories better. =D**

**Beware: you are about to experience some Persona OOCness. But only towards Mikan, cause he is like her onii-sama. Other than that he should be his normal evil self!**

***Note: thought's are in _'_**_italics'_

_**______________________________________________**_

**Chapter 2**

**Mikan POV**

I scribbled down a quick note to my Ouji-chan, apologizing for leaving and telling him not to worry. I also went into explaining that I left so that I could be with Hotaru at Gakuen Alice.

Once finished, I transported into his small bedroom and set my letter next to his sleeping head. I smiled a faint, sad smile and placed a kiss on his forehead before transporting outside my home.

I was dressed in my mission attire. All black. All Alice control devices on, and I had all of my weapons strapped on me and my hair was tied back in a ponytail. I placed my mask on my face.

Though I knew that I was not supposed, I would actually miss the old man. With a silent good-bye and my small black backpack containing my little luggage, hanging off my shoulder, I teleported directly to the Academy.

----------------------

I was walking through the Academy; all was dark and quiet as I headed to the Dangerous Abilities room. I walked soundlessly across the floor at a steady pace, towards my destination.

Suddenly I stiffened. I felt another presence coming towards me from the left. Shifting my backpack on my shoulder, I hid in the shadows incase if danger. I then realized that I recognized the presence. It was the kitten from last night! Natsume Hyuuga, the _Kuro-Neko_. Realizing that there was no real threat, I stepped back out of the shadows, and once again began heading towards the DA room.

I heard his footsteps drawing nearer, and with an exasperated sigh, I realized that I would end up meeting him at the next turn. But _Kuro-Neko_ or not, I had to get to the office on time, so I slightly quickened my pace and took the next turn.

**Natsume POV**

I had just finished another mission and I was walking to the DA room to check in with Persona. Meanwhile, I was recalling my mission last night.

_'Hell's Angel… just who is she?' _I wondered mentally.

I continued to ponder the thought, when I suddenly ran into Hell's Angel herself! _'Speak of the devil! Or, err… angel, I guess…' _I thought when saw her.

As though she didn't notice me, she continued walking down the hall, past me, without a word.

"Hey! Wait up!" I called after her. Though it is very un-me like, the girl interested me. I had never seen her before around the school or in the DA.

She simply walked on, ignoring me, once again. That pissed me off. To get her attention, I lit her hair on fire, or attempted to at least. She made it disappear instantly.

"How did you do that?" I asked her calmly, haven finally caught up to her.

"Wind Alice." She replied coolly, in the same musical voice as yesterday. I felt a gentle wind twirl around me, tossing my already messy hair around. She then, in a harsher voice, added, "Look, _Kuro-Neko_, I have to get going, so leave me alone."

The wind abruptly stopped and I glared at her from behind my mask.

"Tch. Whatever!" I said with annoyance.

We had finally reached our destination; stepping forward, I prepared to knock on the hard wooden door, when suddenly, but gracefully, Hell's Angel stepped in front of me and knocked first. I rolled my eyes.

"Come in, Hell's Angel." The ominous voice of Persona, said. "_Kuro-neko_, remain outside."

I watched silently as she turned the knob of the door, and walked into the darkness of the DA room.

**Mikan POV**

I swiftly shut the door behind me.

"Right on time as always, Tenshi," Persona began, calling me by my nickname. "11:30 on the dot."

"What did you call me here for?" I asked quietly.

"Ah, yes. Well, Tenshi, you will be entering the academy tomorrow as a student." He said.

I could feel excitement building up in me _'No more happy act! I can act like the normal me again!'_ I thought excitedly. _'This is the best day ever!'_ or at least that's what I thought. That is until Persona added," But you will keep your assigned personality."

My rare excitement immediately diminished, but I didn't show it. Instead I gave a short, quick nod of understanding.

"Good." He said. "You will have double the missions now that you live at Gakuen Alice."

He then tossed me a sealed manila folder, which I caught with ease.

"That folder contains all of your mission information. Read it carefully. Your mission is tomorrow night. Meet me at the sakura tree before you go. It also has your room key inside it. You a special star by the way." He added, tossing me the star.

Persona then paused, and then began walking towards me. Confused, I read his mind, and smiled at what I had learned. When he had finally reached me, I chuckled and said, "Yeah, yeah, Persona, you can have a hug."

He hugged me and bent down to whisper in my ear, "It's good to have you back, imouto-chan."

"Good to be back, onii-sama." I replied.

We then separated and he flashed me one of his quick, rare, smiles and announced, "You may go now."

I opened the door and motioned to _Kuro-Neko_ that it was now his turn to come in, when Persona onii-sama, switched back into business mode and called out to me, "Oh, and Hell's Angel?" I paused. "Tomorrow morning. 5o'clock sharp at the field. You know the one. You will have morning training with me and the _Kuro-neko_ from now on."

I nodded me head at the new knowledge. "Good. _Now_ you may go." Persona said.

I then continued my walk, sparing a single glance to the kitten in the process. He was just standing there. Shock still because of ,what I assumed to be, the news. I let out a single musical chuckle of amusement, at which he glared at me for, before he walked into the DA room.

Once he had shut the door, I stuffed the star into my pocket and opened the manila folder so I could get out my room key.

Room 626

I then teleported to said room. When I arrived, I flicked on the main light and tossed the mission folder onto the bed and went to the huge walk-in closet. I set down my bag and star on an empty shelf and flicked on yet another light. I then inspected the contents of the closet. It was already full. It had multiple clean uniforms, sock, shoes, underwear with stupid prints on them, and a variety of other things.

_'Nice…'_ I said in my mind, obviously pleased by the display. I then changed out of my mission cloths, and after cleaning up in the huge bathroom, proceeded to change into a pair of silk pajamas. I jumped onto the huge king-sized bed and after climbing underneath the pink, sakura print, sheets and blankets, I opened up the mission folder and began to read.

I read over it quickly one time and then grinned.

_'hmm… if all of my missions will be like this one from now on, maybe staying here wont be so boring after all.'_

I put the folder and it's contents onto the bedside table and using the wind Alice to flip of the light switches, fell asleep with these thoughts lingering in my mind:

_'Tomorrow I start school as Mikan Sakura, a happy, bubbly, and clumsy special star who adores her best friend Hotaru, and loves to eat…This is gonna be fun!'_

** ___________________________**

**It's done! Well, next time Mikan will actually _attend_ classes, and meet everyone! Wondering what the mission is? **

**Ugh! I feel like everything is moving so slowly right now! I hope I'm not boring you to death… **

**Please review and give me some writing tips or ideas on things I should add to the story! X3**


	5. Chapter 3

**Well, Chapter 3 is now here and Mikan will finally enter Gakuen Alice! X3**

**Disclaimer: nope! not mine... T-T**

**(for some reason i don;t remember adding a disclaimer last chapter.... did i?)**

**This one took me forever to write! (another 2 a.m. story) But i had a ton of fun writing it! LOL =D**

************Beta status: Still searching. I need one! Please? I want to make my stories better!**

***Note: thought's are in _'_**_italics'_

_**--------------------------**_

**Chapter 3**

**Mikan POV**

_***Beep! Beep! Beep! Click**.*_

I groaned and sat up, looking at the annoying clock. 4:00a.m.. '

_Why the hell did I set my alarm clock to 4:00a.m.?'_ I wondered groggily. _'OH! That's right! Training….'_ I sighed and rolled out of bed.

I walked to the bathroom slowly and took a cold shower so that I could wake up. After the shower, and after I had dried off, I dried my hair and pulled it back into a ponytail., before dressing in my mission clothes, putting the Alice control devices on my arms, and putting on my mask. The last control device was a thin silver necklace with a pure black charm. I clicked it in place and looked at the clock once again. 4:45a.m..

_'I'd better get going!'_ I realized. I yanked on my knee length boots, wolfed down a granola bar ,and teleported to a tree in the training field.

-------------------------

_'10 minutes early…. Onii-sama isn't here yet is he?'_ I suddenly realized, as I stood on one of the many branches of a tall, leafy, Oak tree. _'But it appears as though Kuro-neko is.'_

I smirked behind my mask_. Kuro-neko _was laying down on the grass, eyes closed. _'Slacker.'_

I lightly hopped off the tree and landed right in front him. I stared down at him with displeasure for a moment before nudging him in the ribs with my foot. He opened one eye and looked up at me.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm sleeping." he replied lazily.

"Duh."

"Well, if you know, then leave me alone."

"Get up." I ordered impatiently.

He looked up at me, (this time both eyes opened) eyebrows raised, waiting for me to give him a good reason.

"You need to get warmed up, Kitten." I said coolly. "Do you _want_ to pull a muscle?"

"Tch. I don't need to do any of that crap. I'll be fine." He replied arrogantly.

*sigh* _'Natsume, Natsume, Natsume.... You idiot.'_ I thought, shaking my head slowly. _'You have never truly trained with Persona yet, have you?'_

I began stretching on my own. Natsume watched me quietly.

I then, to emphasize the need to stretch, casually added, "Well, suit yourself. But when you are in so much pain, that you can't walk, let alone move, don't come to me for help. I have better things to do than drag you body back to your room." My voice was icy and cruel as i said the last sentence.

Natsume's eyes widened, as he finally grasped the gravity of his situation. I smirked. He finally got up and began copying my stretches.

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**Natsume POV**

I was finally done with that hell of a work out and I was sitting in my seat before class with Ruka, ignoring the fan girls squealing and gigging on the opposite side of the room. I attempted to stretch my arms, but i couldn't lift my arms more than 6 inches off my desk. sighing, I quickly put them down in submission. It was too painful to stretch. Ruka looked at me worriedly.

"It's nothing." I told him reassuringly. He gave me a skeptic look.

"Natsume, I trust you, but it sure doesn't look like nothing…. That training you went through this morning sounded really intense." He said worriedly. I nodded in agreement.

But intense? That was the understatement of the century! Try living hell. Persona worked us until we could barley move! '_Well, until_ I_ could barley move. Hell's Angel seemed used to it…'_ I recalled. _'Thank Kami-sama she convinced me to do those stretched with her… other wise I_ _really_ _would have needed someone to drag my body back.'_ I was already extremely sore, and it had only been and hour since training ended.

I grimaced at the memory. I was about to tell Ruka I was going to skip class and sleep when, Narumi, the gay wonder, bounced into the classroom and announced, "Hello class!," excitedly as usual. _'Too late! Now I have to wait until he leaves..'_ I thought, aggravated. He continued talking for 10 more minutes that I tuned out, when suddenly something caught my attention. "Today we also have a new student! Be nice!"

Whispers of excitement broke out among the class. Ruka nudged me, and asked, "A new kid, at this time of year? Do you know who it is?"

"No clue." I responded. But if there was anyone coming to school at this time of year, then they had to be something special. And even if I didn't know anything else about them, I did know that I wasn't skipping anymore.

I smirked. _'Interesting.' _

**Mikan POV**

(30 minutes before)

I had gotten dressed it my middle school uniform. My special star was pinned on my collar, and my hair was up I two childish pigtails. I walked silently through the empty halls to the teachers' office, and paused outside the door.

I looked down at my feet. Though I wasn't sore from the work out, I knew that the poor kitten had to be. _'I wonder how he's holding up?'_ I asked myself lightly. I chuckled, and looked back towards the door.

Taking 3 deep breaths I jumped into bubbly mode and with a big smile, I opened the door to the teachers' room.

"Hello!" I said excitedly, "My name is Mikan Sakura! I'm the new student!"

All of the teachers turned their heads towards me and stared. I waited expectantly, with a big smile on my face until a blonde haired man came up to me,

"Mikan Sakura, eh?" He asked happily. "Can I call you Mikan-chan?"

I nodded happily. He smiled in reply and then said, " My name is Narumi-sensei! I will be your teacher. Class B, middle school, grade 8. Come with me!"

He began walking out of the room, I trailed along behind him. Once we were out of the office, Narumi-sensei began babbling about the school endlessly for almost 15 minutes. Though the guy was kind of annoying, i did have to admit that I kind of liked him. We reached the door to the classroom and stopped.

"I am going to announce to the class that we have a new student, okay? So wait out here until I call you." He gave me one last smile before bounding into the classroom.

-------------------------

I was waiting outside of the classroom for about 10 minutes before I finally heard my cue.

"Come on in!" Narumi-sensei called.

I walked into the room smiling broadly, and stopped next to Narumi-sensei.

"Introduce yourself please." He said calmly.

"Hello! My name is Mikan Sakura! I am 13 years old." I said cheerfully. I looked at everyone innocently and then smiled even more. _'My cheeks are killing me!'_ I was smiling so much that my face began to cramp!

I scanned the room, my eyes pausing on Hotaru, as I smiled and gave a little wave to her. She paid no attention to me. _'And she's ignoring me… Jerk." _And then Natsume. His piercing crimson eyes were starring intently at me. He then "Hmph'ed", and taking out a manga, proceeded to ignore me. I glared at him.

_'Insolent brat.'_ I thought, irritably.

"Any question for Mikan?" Narumi suddenly said, breaking me out of my previous thoughts.

A roar of questions suddenly were directed at me, ranging from "What hair product's do you use? Your hair is so shiny!" to, "Will you go out with me?"

"U-umm…." I said quietly, feigning nervousness.

"Quiet down!" Narumi-sensei shouted. "One at a time."

I then called on a girl who had seaweed green and a bad perm,_ 'Permy,'_ I decided with a smile. "You." I said pointing.

"What star rank are you?" she asked arrogantly. _' I hate her already.'_

"I'm a special star!"

Another wave of murmurs spread throughout the room.

"So then what's your Alice?" A random kid asked.

"Nullification." I replied kindly.

"Class?" asked another.

For that one, I looked to Narumi-sensei. I already knew the answer, but I was not supposed to yet. "Special Class." He answered for me merrily.

"Now, enough questions. Mikan sit next to Natsume. He's the one with the manga!" He said pointing. "Free period because of the new student!" and with that, he skipped out of the room.

I began walking to my desk, all eyes were following me and everyone was whispering to each other. I was about to sit in my seat when the brat, Natsume, stuck out his foot in a feeble attempt to trip me. I hopped over it and childishly stuck out my tongue as I sat down.

I fidgeted, trying to look excited and nervous all at once. "So…" I began awkwardly, "What's up?"

As though those words were an invitation, everyone in the class, except for Hotaru, suddenly came rushing at me all at once, attacking me with questions.

I smiled and tried to answer all of the questions. When they, at long last, quieted down, I got up from my desk and ran up to Hotaru.

"Hotaru-chan!" I yelled animatedly. She looked up at me with bored eyes. _'WOW. Cold much?' _"How are you? Why didn't you write? Do you like this school? I came here **just** to see you!" I said excitedly.

"I'm fine, you baka. I didn't write because I didn't feel like it. And yeah, I like the school." She said as cold as ever.

Hotaru's face was impassive, but her mind told a different story; _'I missed you, you big idiot!'_ I heard her say to herself, unaware that I was listening. _'But why are you here? I guess not writing you had the opposite effect. Instead of keeping you way, it brought you here instead…. I didn't want you to be involved with this place!'_

_'What?'_ I asked myself. _'Hotaru, the Ice Queen… she… missed me? She was doing that for me? Hmph. Maybe she's not so bad after all.' _I thought feeling slightly happy. _'Wait. Happy? Since when have I had emotions like "happy"? This place is messing with my head. Maybe onii-sama can help?'_

"How mean Hotaru!" I said, pouting childishly. After a few moments of silence, "Can I hug you?" I asked uncertainly.

Finally against her better judgment, Hotaru smiled, and said, "Come here, you baka." Laughing happily I hugged her tightly until she had to pry me off.

----------------------

It was 15 minutes since I had entered class and I was worn out. These kids never shut up! I went back to my seat to lay my head down momentarily, only to see someone's feet on my chair. Hyuuga.

I swiftly pushed his feet off and sat down. Natsume put down his manga to glare at me.

"My feet were there." he began rudely, "Move."

"Well this is my seat!" I countered. From there we had a glare contest. We kept it up for a good 5 minutes when suddenly, "Whatever, _polka-dots_." He said insultingly. My eye twitched slightly at the last word. _'Curse you, stupid underwear!' _I said angrily to myself.

Though I normally would have just killed the person and been over with it, then and there, for a comment like that, my persona prevented me from doing so. But unfortunately for Hyuuga, my persona and I also could not let it slide.

"Huh?" I wondered stupidly. "Polka dots?"

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

"What?!" I screeched. " You pervert!" I yelled.

"Ba-ka." He drawled, provoking me (and of course the idiot I'm playing had to take the bait.)

"Jerk!"

"Stupid."

"Ass hole!"

"Pigtails."

"U-uh…." I paused stupidly, like I had run out of insults. Everyone sweat dropped, believing the act.

"Heh. Run out of insults already, Polka?" Hyuuga asked.

"Gah!" I yelled in annoyance, "I hate you!"

I then kicked him in the shin. Hard.

Everyone gasped. Ruka stood up from his seat abruptly, knocking the chair over in the process. Hotaru was taking pictures rapidly, some kid named Koko was laughing hysterically, and the Natsume and Ruka fan club was steaming with anger.

I smiled triumphantly at the tick in Natsume's forehead. He glared at me, daring me to do it again.

So I did, this time stomping on his foot. I smirked when he winced.

"Your dead." He declared menacingly, lighting a fireball in his hand.

And that's when Narumi-sensei popped by.

"Oh! And class?" he said, oblivious of the tense atmosphere, "I forgot to tell you the name of Mikan's partner! It's Natsume Hyuuga!" he said happily. He then disappeared once again.

We both starred at each other, eye's wide, and shouted, "WHAT?!"

**-------------------------**

**It's done! X3**

**Heh heh, I LOVED writing that scene between Natsume and Mikan!**

**Review if you want a cookie!**


	6. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 is up! I am using a time skip (1 month.... -.-') anyways...**

**There is a _VERY IMPORTANT_ note at the bottom of this chapter. PLEASE read it. it is of the upmost importance.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice! Surprised?**

***Note thoughts in **_'italics'_

**Chapter 4**

_Mini narration!_

It has been exactly 1 month since Mikan joined Gakuen Alice as a student and was partnered with Natsume. They get along, somewhat better now, but... still not the best. =D

Right now, Mikan is for the first time hearing of Central Town, from Yuu Tobita, the class president (aka: Iinchō).

**Mikan POV**

"Central Town?" I asked Yuu excitedly, eyes wide and smiling.

"Yes! It's like a shopping center within the academy grounds. All of the shops are owned by Alice artisans." he explained kindly.

"Wow.... That's amazing!" i shouted excitedly. _'Please no one ask me to go to Central Town.' _I begged in my mind_. _'Please, please, please, please-'

_"_'A pictures worth a thousand words.'" Hotaru quoted, unknowingly ruining my hopes of relaxing this weekend alone, "Why don't you go see it yourself?"

_'Great. I have no excuse, and because of my happy act, i can't refuse without it looking weird!'_ I thought angrily. "I'd _love _to go!" I said with fake excitement, jumping up and down like a moron. _'Seriously?What mentally stable teenager acts like this?'_

"You'll need permission from Narumi-sensei if you want to go." Ruka-pyon added from the opposite side of the room, having apparently heard our conversation._ 'But when i am shouting everything i say, it'd be kind of hard not to.'_

Unlike with Natsume, Ruka-pyon and i get along very well. Once, he had gotten over his anger for my kicking Natsume, (It was just!) he and my persona were fast friends. And though i personally liked the kid, he had unfortunately developed a crush on me. To try and stop him from getting any closer (and failing miserably) i was and have been acting oblivious to his, though adorable, obvious affections for me.

"Okay!" I said happily. _'Maybe he'll say no!'_ I got up from my chair and was about to go find him when suddenly, "Permission granted!" Narumi-sensei said happily.

"Whoa! Sensei, when did you get here?" i said feigning surprise.

He simply laughed and replied, "It's a secret." I sat back down and he walked in front of my desk and sat on the edge. "You can go Mikan-chan, but because you're new here, and you have not been yet, there is one condition: you have to go with your partner."

_'Yes! Natsume will never agree!'_ i cheered mentally, _'He's too lazy to go!'_ But on the out side...

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!" I put my head down on my desk and began pouting. Hotaru sighed in annoyance at the display and Yuu franticly began trying to cheer me up. Narumi-sensei sweat dropped and chuckled. He then looked down at his wrist watch and in a surprised voice, announced, "Crap! I'm late for the teachers meeting!" He pat my head once and said, "Sorry Mikan-chan, but I'v got to go! Good luck!" And with that, he raced out of the room to who-knows-where?

_'Poor Sakura-san...'_ i heard Ruka-pyon think.

_'Crap.'_

I sat up and looked over to where Natsume an Ruka were sitting. A feeling of dread washed over me as i watched the two best friends argue about something. I activated the super hearing Alice I had recently copied (this school is great for stuff like that), and eavesdropped on their conversation.

***

"Please Natsume!" I heard Ruka beg, "Go with Sakura-san to Central Town! She has never been and can't go unless you come with her."

Natsume turned his head away from his friend and growled, "No way in hell am i going with that loud, polka dot panty wearing, pathetic excuse for a girl."

_'Love ya too!'_ I thought sarcastically._ 'Well, at least i don't have to go... i mean. what are the chances of-'_

And that's when Ruka pulled out the puppy dog eyes.

_'Shit.'_

"_Please_, Natsume?" he asked sweetly.

Natsume, who was still facing away, turned to refuse and froze. He opened his mouth but no words came out. Looking down and sighing, Natsume admitted defeat, and muttered, "Fine."

Ruka-pyon pumped his fist in the air, victorious, and announced, "He said okay!" to me proudly, smiling.

***

Damn.

That was all i could think. I mean, making_ the_ Natsume Hyuuga, bend to his own will, solely with the power of his eyes? I had to watch this one from now on... that and force him to teach me that trick.

I stood up from my chair and ran over excitedly to Ruka-pyon, saying, "Thank you so much!" i then gave him a big hug. After a moment i pulled away and asked, "Could you teach me that puppy dog eyes trick, Ruka-pyon?"

Ruka, looking down and blushing furiously, stammered out an okay.

"Aww! thanks!" I gave him another hug.

"Y-you're welcome, Sakura-san," he said, trying to keep his cool, "but i have got to go... my uh... bunny need's me! yeah..." And with that he ran back to sit by Natsume, petting his bunny, head down, trying his best not to look embarrassed.

I giggled as i ran back to Hotaru and Yuu to begin planning our trip.

_'Well, if i am going to go, i might as well make the most of it.'_ i thought idly, only partially listening to Yuu's words.

-------------------

**Central Town**

"Wow!" i exclaimed, doing my best to look awed by every little thing.

It was my first time seeing Central Town and i had to admit that it was amazing. Everything was colorful and pretty, just like everyone had told me! (well except for Natsume, he just ignored me when i asked him his opinion of the place)

I twirled around happily, taking in all of the sights and smells around me. There were shop for everything! From food, to games, cloths to talking plants.

_'Looks like this might not be so boring after all.'_ I mused.

---

We have been walking for hours now, and i just walked out of another clothing store with Hotaru. She and i walked to a tree, where the boys were supposed to be waiting for us, but when we arrived, I froze. I tested the air, taking in a deep breath, and gasped.

"That scent..." I murmured in a barley audible voice, "It can't be..." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Natsume raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Oy, what's wrong Polka? You're-"

"Shhh!" I hissed, holding my hand up, in a sign for silence. He looked annoyed, but obeyed.

I concentrated hard, and after tasting the air once, began walking towards the source of the familiar smell, everyone following behind me. Once we had gotten to the town square, i stopped. I turned around slowly, testing, waiting, until i could pinpoint the scent, and ran towards it at full speed. Once we arrived at the source of the smell, i stopped. My eyes widened.

"It's... it's true." I murmured. Everyone looked at me, thoroughly confused.

"FLUFF PUFFS!" i cried out happily, running towards the stand. They all sweat dropped and wordlessly watched me purchase 10 large boxes.

-------------------------------

**Ruka POV**

Imai and Iincho had walked in to another store and Natsume and i sat under a tree. I watched with amusement as Sakura-san devoured a large box of Fluff Puffs all by herself, with a big smile on her face.

"She really likes those, huh?" I asked Natsume.

"Hn." He replied, "I guess..."

I chuckled and continued to observe the girl, oblivious of the intent stare that Natsume was also giving the brunet.

-----------------

**Natsume POV**

I watched Polka finish off her third box of Fluff Puffs, and begin the fourth, sitting alone on the stone bench. She had a big smile on her face as she devoured the candy, her childish pigtails swaying slightly in the wind.

Ever since the day she transferred to GA, i had found the girl... intriguing. For example; every morning, even though i never reply, she tells me good morning with a smile. Or, if someone has a problem, she tries to fix it. Even if she does not like them. I mean, what's up with that? She's smart in someways, dumb in others. Childish, half the time, mature the other. She is also clumsy. Hopelessly so, in fact.

I chuckled when i saw her fall of the bench. Yup, defiantly clumsy.

And even though she wore weird underwear, was unbelievably dense, and loud, i couldn't help but like the girl.

_'Whoa! Did i just say "like"? No way. That's not the right word at all.'_ I told myself, confused.

I continued to ponder the idea for a while, when suddenly a voice broke my train of thought.

"-tsume. Natsume!" A certain auburn haired girl yelled. I looked up in surprise. "Finally! I'v bee trying to get your attention forever...." she sighed. "Well, c'mon, it's time to go. Hotaru, Ruka-pyon, and Iincho are waiting for us at the bus stop, and I _do not_ want to get left behind.

I sighed and stayed put, wanting to annoy her and succeeding. She got angry when i didn't budge.

"Well, fine then! If you won't come willingly, i'll just have to make you!" she declare with confidence.

I raised an eyebrow, and waited to see what would happen next.

I waited... and waited....

"Gah! Fine i give up!" she said in defeat, "I have no clue how to make you get up..."

"Baka." i drawled condescendingly.

She glared at me arms crossed for a moment, before sighing and holding out one hand.

I looked at it, confused.

"Take my hand stupid." she said laughing. "Let's get going."

I took her hand, smirking as she yanked me up (sort of), and we began walking to she bus stop together.

About a quarter of the way there, she took something out of her pocket and tossed it to me. "I got you a little something." she said casually. I opened the box and saw a little black cat with bright crimson eyes. Its body was hand carved from some black stone and had little rubies for eyes. Even though she was a special star and got a lot of money, i knew that it cost her a lot.

"When i saw it I immediately thought 'Natsume', so... i got it for you. It's a good luck charm actually. Heh. A lucky black cat? How ironic." she explained with a smile.

"It's nice," I began, "_strawberries._" I finished with a smirk

3.

2.

1.

"HENTAI!" she screeched.

And with that, we ran the rest of the way to the bus stop. Mikan chasing and screaming about what a perv i was, me, running away and (surprisingly) laughing while calling her more and more names.

Yeah... I guess "like" is the right word after all....

-------------------

**Done! Thank you tons for reading, but for once, i am serious when i say i need reviews. My mom won't let me continue this fict if i don't get 50 by Friday, August 28. School starts the Monday after for me, and she thinks that i should be spending more time on academics than "stupid stories" such as this. I have showed her the story traffic to show her that many people are reading, but she doesn't care about the charts. She cares about the reviews. So, if she just thinks it a story that i am wasting my time on because no one is reading it, i have to stop and delete everything. So please, if you have yet to review, or have reviewed, but not all of the chapters, please do! I know it's nuts, but even if it's just something like "nice chapter =D" as long as the review count says 50 i can continue on. Mean while, i will continue updating as i can. (if you will, please place a review for every chapter and not just one, so that i can bring up the count ASAP)**

**PLEASE! please! pLeaSe! review!**

**-Ichigo**


	7. Chapter 5

**Thank you all of my lovely reviewers! So far: Miyaxbaybeexx, Emmoria, little naruto girls, Henna994, Sweetcheeks3662, Olympiangirl, maxeyn, Xxdarkness-angelxX, animelover0323, izzy-bellarocs, Emmoria, AnimeLovaXD, Amuto15, kikyorules10, and last but most certainly not least, Vein's Simply Tired. Keep it coming! Maybe I can get to 50 reviews after all.... maybe more? (LOL that'd be nice but no pressure!)**

**Chapter 5! Umm… I know that the flash back should be in all one POV, but it's more fun in two! So…. Yeah. =D**

**Before we start this next chapter though, I would like to bring up a point that was thankfully brought up by Emmoria. Some of you must be wondering if this is just a scam for more reviews or not, and I would just like to let you know, that the answer is no. Though it is so wonderful to be getting these reviews, and it's what I have wanted to have people review each chapter, I am truthfully doing this because of the standards set my mother. I just want to continue to write, so even though I can't personally tell you myself that it's truth, I hope you all will believe in me. =D**

**Disclaimer: I disclaim.**

**Chapter 5**

**Mikan POV**

It was Sunday morning, after practice, and the day after the little "adventure" at Central Town. I was walking to the sakura tree I fad grown so fond of, dressed for my persona; pigtails, school uniform, book bag, and big smile.

When I arrived, I climbed up to sit on a branch, only to see Natsume sitting in my spot. He looked up.

"Hey! Natsume, get out of my spot! You go sit on that branch! Not this one." I told him.

He just looked at me. So, I pushed him off the tree.

CRASH!

"What the hell polka?!" I heard Natsume shout.

Climbing into my proper spot, I laughed and said, "Sorry kitten! I thought that you would land on your feet!"

As soon as I said those words, I realized my mistake. I gasped.

'_Kitten?'_ I heard him wonder. _'That's what Hell's Angel calls-'_

Bam!

I "accidentally" dropped my book bag on his head, to distract him from the truth. It worked.

"_POLKA!!!!!!!!_"

And now I run.

"No! Don't kill me!" I screamed while running away from him, "It was an _accident!_ Really!" _'He he… this is fun!'_ I said to myself.

I dashed into the nearby woods, Natsume following behind me. I quickly lost him and did a quick change into Hell's Angels' cloths.

**Natsume POV**

I was running after polka dots, as fast as I could. She dashed into the woods, I followed, but eventually I lost her.

Suddenly I felt someone's presence behind me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked the person.

"Oh nothing really…" she said in a casual voice, "I just wanted to see what the whole commotion was about…."

"Hn." Was my only reply.

I turned around to face Hell's Angel.

Like polka, and me, she and I had also become good friends. For example: when speaking to each other, we used a _slightly_ warmer tone and _slightly _kinder words. Small difference to most, big difference to us. I even got her to laugh recently. Even if the only reason she had laughed had almost gotten me killed…

**Begin Flashback**

**Natsume POV**

It was right before practice and I was lying down in the grass, resting, when suddenly, I felt something….warm. No wait, hot! I snapped my eye's open... and I was on fire?!

**Persona POV**

It was 5:00a.m. and I was walking to the field to begin practice with imouto-chan and _Kuro-neko_, expecting to see them waiting quietly and attentively for me so that we could begin training. But I was defiantly not prepared for what I both saw and heard as I walked closer.

Explosions, shouting, and…Mikan laughing?!

I ran at full speed into the clearing and almost fell over at the sight.

Natsume was chasing Mikan (both had their masks on) and throwing fireballs at her while shouting at her to hold still, so he could burn her to death, (_Sweet kid!_) while she just continued jumping and dodging and laughing the entire time.

Natsume angry and destroying things? Not surprising and not really a big deal.

But, Mikan laughing? Voluntarily, while not using her fake persona? Big surprise. And an even bigger deal. Getting that girl to _truly_ laugh was like getting a rock to cry. Impossible, right?. Or at least, until today, that is.

I sighed and walked into the clearing.

"STOP!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. Both teenagers froze, Mikan on top of a boulder, preparing to run and Natsume with his arm up and a fireball in his hand.

I turned firstly to Mikan. "Hell's Angel, would you mind telling me what happened here?"

Mikan stood up straight and in the most serious voice she could seem to manage, she choked out, "Nothing, Persona. We were just playing a little game." Here voice was strained and it sounded like she could barley hold the laughter in. Once again: Mikan? Laughing? I will have to ask her about this later…

I then turned to Natsume. The dork was still holding his previous pose; fireball lit and all.

"Relax." I told him seriously. He breathed a sigh of relief, put out the fireball, and stood up straight. I heard Mikan snort as she tried not to start laughing again. What is with that girl today?

"Now it's your turn." I said to Natsume. "Tell me what happened."

He pointed hand towards Mikan and then began shouting, "That freak tried to kill me!!" I nodded, processing the information, and gestured for him to carry on. "I was lying down on the grass waiting for you to come when she suddenly set me on fire! I didn't even know she could use fire! I thought she was a wind Alice! And then-"

"Hey! I didn't _actually_ set you on fire… it was just all around and _looked_ like you were on fire!" Mikan said coolly in protest, having finally calmed down.

"Whatever!" Natsume grumbled. "But as I was saying; after she 'lit me on fire,' she created a min-tornado and trapped me in it! The fire was out by then, but I was tossed 15 feet in the air before she finally let up with the tornado!"

I looked towards Mikan who was standing on the boulder innocently. I imagined that she was probably staring at me with big, wide, innocent eyes from behind her mask. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Both of you," I began seriously, " are in big trouble." I looked from Natsume to Mikan. She wasn't laughing anymore. _'Good.'_

**End Flashback**

She was standing there with perfect posture as usual, her mask on. But when isn't she? Never.

"What's up?" I asked her, bored.

Instead of replying to my question, she said something else, "Persona saw you chasing Mikan."

'_Shit__…'_ I thought worriedly. Tough I had never seen them interact myself, it was a well known fact throughout the school that Mikan and Persona were close. But I had NO clue why. The guy was a freak! And a jerk! And a bastard, stalker, and- well that's not the point. My point is: How can to vastly different people like them get along?

Who knows?

"Persona told me to punish you for that."

'_Double shit.'_

"But if you'll do me a favor, I won't hurt you. Physically that is."

"What?" I asked eagerly. Anything to escape physical torture.

She mumbled something I couldn't hear very well.

"What? I can't hear you." I said impatiently.

"-Fluff Puffs." The first part was a mumble but the end was clear.

"Fluff puffs?"

"I aid, that if you'll buy me a large box of Fluff Puffs, I'll let you go!" she said sounding desperate.

I felt ticklish inside.

"Why don't you go and get them?" I asked in a normal, voice, which by the way, was getting harder every second.

"Because I'm not allowed to go to Central Town and I have not had a Fluff Puff in 7 years!" she told me desperately, "_7 years!_" she was shaking my shoulders back and forth now. She sounded SO uncharacteristically embarrassed.

So I burst out laughing.

"Ha ha ha! You- you-! Ha ha! Okay! I'll do it!" I said laughing. "If that's all that it really took, I would have been there ages ago!"

Though it was very un-me like, it was hilarious. And I couldn't stop the laughter.

"Shut up! It's not funny." She demanded I a cold voice, punching me in the process. I stopped.

"Eh-hem." I said, slightly embarrassed, "I will go now."

I then dashed off to Central Town.

-------------------

**Mikan POV**

I watched quietly as Natsume dashed off to Central Town. I chuckled.

Well, he shouldn't suspect me now. After that act he couldn't right? He completely forgot about me calling him "Kitten" after all.

Knowing it would be a while until he was back, I changed back into Mikan. I was walking past the High School division, when suddenly; 12 boys cornered me.

- - - - - - - - - -

**Natsume POV**

I was walking back from Central Town. I had 5 extra large boxes of Fluff Puffs for Hell's Angel, I chuckled at he memory of her begging for the candy.

I was walking past the High school Division, when I heard a voice.

"Is it really this girl?" a deep voice asked.

I ran towards the source and my eyes widened at the sight of Mikan pressed up against a wall, surrounded by 12 high school students.

------------------------------------------------------

**Next chapter is done! This one is kind of short though…**

**Thanks for the reveiws! I have almost met my mom's goal! X3**


	8. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 is here! Once again thank you all of my lovely reviewers! Miyaxbaybeexx, Emmoria, little naruto girls, Henna994, Sweetcheeks3662, Olympiangirl, maxeyn, Xxdarkness-angelxX, animelover0323, izzy-bellarocs, Emmoria, AnimeLovaXD, Amuto15, kikyorules10, and last but most certainly not least, Vein's Simply Tired.  
Keep it coming! Maybe i can get to 50 reviews after all! maybe more? (LOL that'd be nice but no pressure!) Anyways, heres the next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: NOPE! i don't own it. But i can always hope...**

**Chapter 6**

**Mikan POV**

I was laying in the grass on the training feild, dressed in my mission clothes. It was Monday evening and a holiday, and after our "special holiday practice," as onii-sama called it. There was no school, and I could take a little extra time getting back to the dorms.

_'Natsume...'_ I thought with a small frown.

All day he had been avoiding me during practice. Sure, he gave me the Fluff Puffs, but he wouldn't talk to me. Only answer when directly questioned.

Like Natsume and my persona, _Kuro-Neko_ and Hell's angel had made major progress as well. For example: I had recently become a _little_ nicer when i talked to him and used a _slightly_ warmer tone, and visa-versa. He also listened to me more, and didn't do that annoying "Tch" and "Hn" thing as often. Though to most, it seemed like little progress, it was actually a lot. He even got me to laugh once. It was wonderful having someone to be friends with the real me. NOT my persona. But it was also absolutely unforgivable. Because it was slowly but surely making me go soft and become careless. For examlple, just yesterday...

**Begin Flashback**

I was against a wall on the side of the high school division, where no one could see me. I was cornered. It was 12 to 1. I could easily win, but I was acting right now. I was Mikan, the dizty but happy special star.

"Is it really this girl?" one of the guys asked. Though all of them were ugly, this one in particular was the most ugly of all.

"Yeah," another one answered. "This is the girl. Mikan Sakura, the second special star in the middle school division; Natsume Hyuuga's partner. A favorite of Persona-sensei."

"Why? She's not even in the DA! That, and I hear she's kind of dumb." the ugly one (whom i guessed was the leader) said and laughed. "Sorry kid," he said turning back to me, "but were gonna have to rough ya up a little bit, ya'know? Show Both Natsume and that bastard Persona not to mess with us. Bad thing's they've done to us 12... Now their gonna pay."

"Shut up." I hissed.

"Huh? What was that?" he asked angrily. The other 11 began laughing. "Say that one more time and-"

"I said, _shut up_!" I went from a low his to a yell. Happy act or not, _no one_ insults Onii-sama.

The ugly leader roared in anger and brought his fist back to punch me. Just as it was about to make impact with my face, I leapt forward and caught it. I threw his arm back at him and jumped back. I then for the first time, looked up at them, glaring. My gaze was cold and ruthless.

"Listen up!" I yelled, instantly gaining their full attention. "If you _dare _insult Natsume or Onii-sama, I will kill you. So try it. _Try_ to insult them, and see what happens." I declared, displaying one of my coldest and hardest glares. They were all shaking,and one fainted. I smirked.

"W-we're not scared of you!" one of the guys said stepping up. "Your b-brother and Natsume are both bastards, a-and we will not stop, just because of some threats from a little girl!"

"Attack!" the boss declared. They all came at me at once. I smirked.

One by one, I knocked them out. '_1-2-3... 11.' _I counted the knocked out men. I then looked over to my right, only to see the twelfth person trying to sneak away. I teleported in front of him.

"Going somewhere?" I asked coolly.

He shank back in fear.

"Wha- what _are_ you?" he asked in fear.

"Your worst nightmare." I then kicked him in the face, knocking him out.

Erasing all of their memories, I walked away, not realizing until later, that Natsume had seen it all.

**End Flashback**

I stayed still for a little while longer, before sighing and sitting up. It was time to go back to the Academy. I had a new mission.

------------------------------

I was sitting in my room on the bed, resting. Suddenly I heard a small knock on my door, and saw a small piece of paper slipped through the bottom.

Using the wind Alice, I picked it up and set it in my hand. I then unfolded the little note and began to read.

_Mikan, there's been a change in plans..._

--------------------------------

(1 hour later)

The sun was almost completely set.

I was now dressed as my persona. Pigtails, big smile, and school uniform. I was walking through the court yard when i suddenly saw Natsume and Ruka-pyon sitting on the ground near a little stream.

"Natsume! Ruka-pyon!" I called out to them, running towards the boys with a big smile.

Ruka-pyon looked up and waved while Natsume just stared.

"What cha doin?" I asked, sounding as ditzy as possible.

Ruka began to say something, but got cut off by Natsume.

"Polka, come here. We need to talk. Ruka, go back to your dorm for now."

"Oh... okay then." Ruka-pyon obeyed, but not with out a worried look directed towards the two of us before going.

"Sit." Natsume ordered.

I nervously began walking towards him.

----------------------------

**Natsume POV**

I watched as Polka nervously sat down beside me.

I needed to ask her about what i saw yesterday. Her deadly glare, her cold but beautiful voice. Her attitude was so different. So..._ violent_. She stood, spoke, and acted with a grace and beauty that I had only seen in one other person before.

_'Just like the first time I met Hell's Angel...'_

But she couldn't be, right? Well that's what I was going to figure out.

"So..." she began nervously, "What did you want to talk about?"

"Tell me about last night." I told her seriously. Somewhere in the distance, i heard thunder.

A look of confusion passed over her face. "You want to know about Hotaru and I's sleep over? Why should I tell you?"

"Don't play dumb with me!" I shouted. "Tell me what happened!" I was infuriated that she would even try to feign innocence.

Scared, she jumped up off the ground and began backing away from me.

"I-I was with Hotaru...." she whispered in a terrified voice, backing up even more.

I felt a drop of rain hit my face.

Still sitting, I grabbed her wrist, "Your not going anywhere." I declared.

She made a face when I grabbed her. I dismissed it.

"Tell me, the truth." i said slowly, glaring at her.

Ever since that night, i had been making connections between the two. Hair color, height, voice (if you pay close attention), laugh (even though for Hell's Angel it's rare), Mikan recently called me kitten; that's what Hell's Angels calls me. And that was only the tip of the iceberg.

So, I had to know. I had to hear Mikan admit it, even though right now she was denying it, something inside me told me that it was just a lie.

But what if she _did_ admit it? Admit that she was actually Hell's Angel? That would mean that the cheery, bubbly, clumsy, and happy Mikan that everyone had come to know and love... was a lie. It would mean that she is actually a cold, emotionless weapon of GA, who kills without any regret. And it would mean, that all that time, she had been fooling us, mocking us on the inside because we had all believed her acting.

Who would want to believe that?

But no matter how much i tried to deny it, that was most certainly Mikan last night.

It was raining hard now. The cold rain was drenching the both of us.

"I said I don't know!" Mikan yelled, trying to pull away. I didn't loosen my grip. I tightened it and she yelped.

"I don't know what your talking about Natsume! Now _let go_!"

SLAP!

My eye's widened in surprise, as I slowly brought a hand up to my stinging cheek.

'_What...?'_ I wondered stupidly.

I looked up to Mikan. She was crying hard, I could tell even through the rain.

I let go of her wrist and she began sobbing.

I looked at her arm from where I was, now standing. It had a huge red mark on it that was already bruising, in the shape of a hand... _my_ hand. I slowly reached out towards her and she flinched away. She shook her head slowly before breaking into a run.

I watched her numbly as she ran through the rain, slipping and sliding on the wet grass, as she headed back to the dorms. She was running under a path of tree's, when suddenly lightning struck a tree directly above her.

I began running after her, but i was too late.

I heard a crash accompanied by a high pitched scream.

"MIKAN!!!"

-------------------------

**Persona POV**

I looked away sadly, as I saw the tree fall on Mikan.

"Phase 1: completed." I whispered, before disappearing into the cold, dark night.

-----------------

**Ooh... cliff hanger... i think. =D**

**So.... did you like it? I sure hope so! X3**

**Thanks for reading, the next chapter will be up soon!**


	9. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7! Once again thank you all of my lovely reviewers! Miyaxbaybeexx, Emmoria, little naruto girls, Henna994, Sweetcheeks3662, Olympiangirl, maxeyn, Xxdarkness-angelxX, animelover0323, izzy-bellarocs, TaffyGirl, Dark Chocolate, EAnIL, Emmoria, AnimeLovaXD, TheDarkestKitten49, -anime-luvr25-, Amuto15, kikyorules10, and last but most certainly not least, Vein's Simply Tired.  
Keep it coming! Here's the next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: NOPE! i don't own it. D:**

**Chapter 7**

**Normal POV**

Everyone and everything in the academy was dark and quiet. It was raining outside as it has been ever since Mikan got hurt yesterday.

Mikan was currently laying in her hospital bed, talking to someone.

**Mikan POV**

My breathing was forced and painful, I wasn't even supposed to be awake right now, but their weak anesthetics did not work on me.

"So, is it time that i heal myself?" i asked the figure before me.

"Yes, Mikan." Onii-sama answered. He had taken his mask off, a rare occurrence, and i could see all of the emotions on his face. The most prominent emotion; worry.

"It's_ okay_, onii-sama." I said, trying for the ten thousandth time to cheer him up. He felt responsible for what happened (which he sort of was, but I didn't blame him. I agreed after all.)

"Yes, but you could have just used a doppelganger or a clone to take the hit!" He complained.

"Onii-sama, I have explained this so many times, you should have it memorized by now, you know that if it was either of those, they would have just disappeared when the tree hit them. The blow did not kill me, and all that i have to do now, is heal myself, and make a clone to take my place here in the hospital. The plan went exactly as expected. There are only 2 more phases left in the plan to stop Natsume from suspecting me, and this is the most important one." I explained, exasperated.

"Do you have the Alice amplifier stone?" I asked him.

"Here." he said placing the green stone in my open palm.

I then concentrated and began using my healing Alice, regeneration Alice, and the Alice amplifier at once, to heal my broken bones, cuts, bruises, and and internal injuries. After a few minutes, my body was back to normal, and creating a clone and putting it in my spot, I stood up.

"See? Good as new!" i said, doing a combination of karate techniques just to prove it.

Onii-sama sighed in defeat and said, "Fine...." he turned his back to me and muttered childishly, "But you still shouldn't have done that, or have to do any of the other phases."

"Yes i should have, and i will."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"I said no way in hell!"

"I don't care! YES!"

"_Gah! i cant stand you!_" we shouted in sync, turning away from each other and pouting.

Then phone rang.

"Hello?" onii-sama asked, picking it up before i could reach it. "Hm? yeah... okay." He hung up.

"Mikan... time for phase 2."

"Yes." I said obediently.

I went to go change.

----------------

**Natsume POV**

I was sitting alone, on my favorite Sakura tree. There was no rain getting on me because of the tree, but I was cold, and soaked, but i didn't want to go and dry off.

_'After all, Mikan is suffering much more than I am right now....'_

_'Stupid stupid stupid!'_ I said smacking myself in the head. It was all my fault! I was so desperate to find out if Mikan and Hall's Angel were one and the same, that i hurt her, and she almost got killed! A single tear slid down my cheek.

"I didn't think that you were the type to cry." A voice behind me said quietly. _'Mikan? No,-' _"Hell's Angel?"

"The one and only!" she said dramatically. "Who did you think I was?"

"N-no one." i said unconvincingly. I still hadn't turned. She scoffed.

"Yeah, yeah, _Kuro-Neko_. Like that's gonna fool me." She jumped off of her branch and on to mine, directly in front of me. She leaned down, and whispered, "I heard that you thought i was your little girl friend, Mikan. I also heard that you almost got her killed because you scared her and she ran away. You _are_ the one who made that mark on her arm, yes? From holding on to her too hard?"

I leaned back, surprised. "Yeah..." I muttered quickly to her previous interrogation. "What happened to your clothes? And your mask?"

She was dressed completely different from normal. She had on a pleated black skirt that hit about mid-thigh and a tank top that showed of her curves. Over the tank top she had an unzipped jacket that was black in color with a pink zipper, and had a hood. On her feet were 3 inch, black heels. And on her face... there was nothing.

She had big, eyes that were a reddish brown color, high cheekbones, and a small heart shaped face. She was wearing only a little bit of eyeliner and shadow. Her lips had a light shimmer to them from lipgloss. She was wearing her hair down. The auburn locks were long and slightly curled at the bottom, but otherwise straight. She was gorgeous, but she looked nothing like Mikan.

"Where's your mask? I thought that you weren't allowed to show your face." I questioned her, realizing now that i was completely wrong before. Strike one.

She just laughed and replied, "This is not how i actually look. I just made my face look different with an Alice."

_'Then she could be Mikan! But... Mikan is in the hospital...'_

She grabbed my hand and yanked my up. Using her water Alice, she made all of the water leave my clothes and hair, making me instantly dry.

"C'mon." she said, dragging me off the tree, "We are going to Central Town. I got permission, and you need a pick-me-up." She made a huge shield above us using her water alice so we didn't get wet.

"But the whole place will be sopping wet! And it's still raining!" Just as I spoke the words, the rain began to lessen and go away completely. The sun peaked through the clouds, warming my skin.

"Well, it isn't now." she said with a tiny smile. I just gaped and didn't say anything. I had learned to just go with the flow, where she was concerned.

----------------

(Central Town)

"Natsume, what's that?" she asked me pointing to a store.

"And that?"

"Or that?"

The entire time, i had been answering all of her questions. It was weird to actually see the girl take interest in a place like this. And though she didn't_ look_ excited, I could tell that she was by her eyes and occasional small smiles. But she didn't know where _anything_ was. She even had to ask me where the Fluff Puff stand was!

But i did have to admit that spending time with her did make my mood better. I felt like i was with a Mikan clone. (who looked nothing like her and was rather emotionless... -_-')

I sighed mentally. Strike two against her being Mikan. _'But it could be an act...?'_ I considered the possibility.

I looked down at the girl. She had an expressionless face as they were walking. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and her eye's had a small sparkle. The complete opposite from what Mikan was normally like though. Mikan would have a huge smile and be running and most likely tripping. She'd have pink cheeks, and big sparkling eye's. She would also never wear what hell's angel (or Tenshi as she insisted me calling her in public) was wearing because:

A. She would trip every 5 steps in those heels

B. She would be too paranoid of me looking up her skirt to wear one so short

C. I just don't think she has that kind of fashion sense in her

Strike three.

I sighed deeply and continued walking with"Tenshi". There were too many differences between the two. Not including the ones i came up with just now. They weren't the same...

--------------

The sun was beggining to set by the time we had gotten back to the dorms.

"Well, Natsume, good-bye for now." she said boredly.

"Yeah." I said simply. I began walking to my dorm when suddenly, something told me to turn back. So i did, and what i saw sursprised me to no end. Hell's Angel was smiling a Mikan style smile. It was sweet and serene and had a light of it's own. It was like the sun coming out from beneath the clouds, Or an angel...

But that was only for a moment, because 2 seconds later, she realized i saw her smiling face. She wiped the look right off her features, eyes wide. She then replaced the look with her usual bored expression.

I looked deep into her eyes and saw panic.

_'She didn't want me to see that smile,'_ i realized,_ 'Not because it was embarrassing for her, but because it revealed something.'_

_I turned away and resumed walking. _

_'Mikan?__ But she's in the hospital, right? It could have all been an act... but i clearly saw that tree hit her. So she'd have to be injured. there's NO way that she could be with me right now... right?'_

_---------------_

I was back in my room and had just stepped out of the shower and was drying off. I wrapped my towel around my waist and walked into my bed room only to see a manilla folder placed in the middle of my bed.

_'A new mission?'_ I smirked.

I picked up the folder and read it's contents.

_'And the mission is with Hell's Angel no less....'_

----------------

**Persona POV**

I was sitting on a rock, watching worriedly as imouto repeatedly hit her head against a tree (how ironic), muttering the words "stupid, stupid, stupid" in sync with impact. There's a dent in the would where she's hitting her head, and it's growing larger by the second.

_'What happened during phase 2?'_ I wondered, _'Did she slip up?'_

"Yeah. I slipped up. Majorly." she replied to my thoughts.

"That sucks." i said sympathetically, "What happened?"

She didn't answer and i didn't push.

_'Well, thank kami-sama that she at least has stopped hitting herself.'_ I sighed in releif, thankfull for at least that small thing.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Stupid, stupid, stupid."

_'Damn.'_

--------------

**Mikan POV**

When the tree broke in half, I finally stopped abusing myself.

_'How could I have been so _stupid_?!'_ I screamed at myself, _'Smiling at him?'_

Everything had been going perfect until I smiled. He had finally given up the notion that I was Mikan. (which I am, but you know what i mean.)

And what makes matters worse, is the fact that I didn't even know why I smiled. '_I've never even smiled liked that for Onii-sama. And he's my bother!'_

I suddenly had the urge to start hitting myself again. Except with that big boulder this time.

Persona onii-sama, who had apparently seen me eyeing the boulder said, "Don't even _think_ about it.", in a threatening voice. I sighed and walked over to sit beside him.

"Your mission with Kuro-Neko, Phase 3, starts in less than an hour. Even if you did mess up the second phase, you can cover it up with this one. You have to _completely_ wipe all suspicion from his mind that you are Mikan. Go get ready." he paused and stared at me for a moment before adding, "And go heal your face." he bought his index finger to my forehead and wiped it. He then brought it down for my eyes to see. "Your bleeding _pretty_ bad."

"yeah, yeah. I know..." I said and jumped to my feet.

I teleported to my room and began to change.

----------------------------------------------------------------

**Okay! the next chapter is going to be really long. Or at-least i think it will. When i wrote it down in my notebook it was about 12 pages long! and i still hadn't finished it yet. O.o**

**By the way, as I'm sure you all know, we have reached 50! (55 precisely) I don't have to quit! WOOT! I hope that you all will continue to review like now (I really like hearing what you think about each chapter. It motivates me. I'm weird.) It's just a request. **

**Thanks everyone who reviewed! =3**


	10. Chapter 8

**Woot! Chapter 8! This next chapter is going to be rather.... Violent. And angsty. (thus the rating and genre) But I also think it's one of the best! =D **

**Maybe... : /**

**IDK really... -_-'**

**Thank you people who reviewed: behind-those-crimson-eyes, JustinneXD, Miyaxbaybeexx, Emmoria, little naruto girls, Henna994, Sweetcheeks3662, Olympiangirl, maxeyn, Xxdarkness-angelxX, animelover0323, izzy-bellarocs, TaffyGirl, Dark Chocolate, EAnIL, Emmoria, AnimeLovaXD, TheDarkestKitten49, -anime-luvr25-, Amuto15, kikyorules10, and last but most certainly not least, Vein's Simply Tired.**

**Disclaimer: *sighs* I don't own it...**

**Mikan POV**

I was sitting with onii-sama underneath my favorite sakura tree, waiting for Natsume who was late. (not surprising) I was once again wearing my mask, weapons, and mission clothes.

"Are you sure your ready?" Onii-sama asked for the hundredth time.

"Yeah. I'm ready." I replied in a steely voice.

_'You are an emotionless weapon.'_ I chanted, repeating the words that had been beaten into me since I was little, _'You will do anything necessary to hide your identity and complete your mission. No emotion can be allowed, wether-'_

My thoughts were cut short when I heard a rustling sound above my head. I looked up, only to see Natsume jumping down from the sakura tree, and landing beside me. Onii-sama and i stood up.

"Your late." Onii-sama said emotionlessly, his voice laced with annoyance.

Natsume just shrugged.

"As you both should know, your mission tonight is to infiltrate the AAO headquarters and retrieve a kidnapped Alice. The place is teeming with guards, so you must always be on guard. There are 200 total. 50 outside, 150 inside. You may do with them, whatever you please.

The kidnapped Alice is named Akane Gekkou, age 7. She has the alice of darkness."

As soon as he said the name of her Alice, onii-sama's words turned into a murmur in the background. I stiffened. The alice of darkness was taboo. It was said that whoever has it bring only misfortune and death to those around them. And if you are touched by it, you are cursed and after suffering for 10 years, you will die a horrible death. It's exactly the type of power the AAO would abuse. This had_ not_ been in the information. If I messed up, the AAO could take control of the whole world, with one little girl.

"Hell's Angel," I snapped out of my thoughts, "you will lead the mission."

"Gladly."

--------------

**Natsume POV**

I was listening silently to Persona going over the mission. He had just mentioned the Alice, when I suddenly felt Hell's Angel stiffen.

What was wrong with the Alice of darkness?

I glanced over to her, only to see that she was completely still. So still, in fact, that you couldn't even tell if she was breathing or not. After 5 more minutes, I began to worry. What was wrong with her?

"Hell's Angel, you will lead the mission." Persona ordered. Those words seemed to snap her out of her trance.

In the coldest, most intimidating voice I had ever heard, she snarled the reply, "Gladly."

---------------------

We were hiding outside the AAO's not-so-secret headquarters. I was sitting there, bored and silent when suddenly, "Persona was wrong. There are 250, not 200. 100 outside, 150 inside." Hell's Angel announced.

"And you knew that... how?" I asked her skeptically.

"You doubt me?" she asked in a icy voice.

I stayed quiet, smart enough to not say anymore.

"X-ray Alice." she muttered quickly.

Why was I not surprised? This girl seemed to have everything! Fire, Ice, Water, Wind, Metal, Earth, Mind reading, Animal Pheromone, Human Pheromone, and now X-ray. Who knows what else?

"Here's the plan," she said suddenly, "I take front, you back. When we reach the captives cell, you stand guard, just incase, while I retrieve her. From there, I will transport the three of us back to the Academy."

And now apparently she also has teleportation! Wait a second... "If we are teleporting away, why not just teleport directly into the cell?" I asked.

She chuckled darkly in response. I suddenly got the feeling that none of the 250 guards would be alive by the end of the night.

----------------------

**Mikan POV**

I was running through the hallways, killing everything in sight, leaving no one for Natsume. I knew that it would end up happening that way of course. I planned it so.

Natume, still following uselessly behind me "tch'ed" as I killed another 10 guards with my water Alice, annoyed he didn't get to do anything. 190 guards down, 60 to go.

We rounded another corner, only to come face to face with a group of 55 guards, all bearing arms. I stopped running.

"Cover you ears." I commanded Natsume when he finally stopped.

"Huh?" he asked stupidly.

"Just do it!" i shouted angrily. He obeyed.

Using the Voice pheromone I had stolen from a previous guard before i killed him, in a calm but strong voice, i ordered them all, "DIE."

"Yes, oujo-sama." The 55 said mindlessly. They brought their guns to their heads and fired. I watched with cruel satisfaction, as their blood pooled around their fallen bodies, creating a bloody path to the entrance of the cell. 245 guards down. 5 more to go. Time to be heartless.

I couldn't let the AAO win, and i couldn't let Natsume think I was Mikan.

"Let's go."

----------------------

**Natsume POV**

I watched in silent horror as i ran past the mass of dead bodies.

_'Acting or not, there was no way in hell Mikan could have done something like this.'_

I followed her numbly until we reached the end of the hallway, 5 minutes later. There were only 5 guards at the entrance to the cell.

Oblivious to our presence, Hell's Angel killed all but one of the guards with her katana. The remaining guard, finally sensing us, turned around and gasped, looking frantically from Hell's Angel to his slaughtered comrades.

He dropped his gun, eyes wide with terror.

Making sure i couldn't see her face, she took her mask off. I could only see the back of her head.

"You know," Hell's Angel began casually, as though she _hadn't_ just killed 249 men, "That little girl you have locked up in there, is very important to us." She said gesturing to me and herself.

The man sank to the floor and began trembling. She took another step.

"I-I'm sorry!" the man said frantically. "You can pass!" he tossed her they key's to the cell, which she caught. "I don't care! Just please spare me!" he pleaded.

The man was now shaking violently, with fear. He was backing up against the wall as Hell's Angel advanced. The lioness and her prey.

She giggled, and in an overly sweet voice said, "Sorry! But you see, I just can't let you live!" A single tear slid down the man's cheek, and he whimpered as needles of ice began forming above and around him. "Your the enemy." she whispered in the man's ear, leaning over. She sent one needle into his right arm. He cried out in pain.

My eye's widened.

She full out laughed as the guard grimaced in pain and tried not to scream.

She placed her mask back on her face, and in a hostile voice, said, "Good-bye!"

"NO!" I shouted, but it was too late.

She sent all of the needles through the man's body at once.

She then turned to me, sending a single blade of wind towards me at the same time.

I shut my eyes tight and did not open them until I heard a clatter. I looked down and saw my mask cut cleanly in half, on the floor.

"What happened to your mask will happen to you if you dare oppose me again." she said angrily.

My mind went blank and knee's weak, I sank down to the floor. Even if I, myself, had killed before, never in my life had i seen something so cruel and sadistic. Something that she had done for_ fun_. I didn't like hurting others, and that display just now pushed me over the edge.

"How could you?" I whispered in a hollow voice. "How could you have just killed him like that? He was going to let you pass. You saw how terrified he was. And you... you just killed him for fun." I flashed back to her laugh as she impaled him with the first needle and i shuddered. "You enjoyed it."

"I have a standard to up hold." she said, her voice indifferent. "I am the Academy's top spy and secret weapon. I do my jobs with the upmost efficiency. That means that i cannot leave a single trace that could reveal me. That is how I have stayed anonymous all these years. And as you know, that man saw me, thus he could not be allowed to live. That is my way, and if you have a problem with it, never again accompany me on a mission."

My mind was blank. I couldn't comprehend her reasoning for such brutal killing.

She is not Mikan. I know that now.

So then why, despite all that had happened, did those words feel so wrong?

She looked down at me with pity.

"I will transport you back to the Academy now, instead of later. You are of no use to me."

And with that, I was enveloped in a bright white light, and next thing I knew, I was 10 feet away from Persona, underneath the sakura tree.

He rushed over to me, and I collapsed.

----------------

**Mikan POV**

I watched sadly as Natsume sank to the ground. His face was filled with pain, confusion, and fear. I knew he wouldn't be able to handle it. But I had to. The principal told me to do so.

All thoughts of me being Mikan were gone from his mind now.

_'Phase 3: Completed. Mission success.'_

"I will transport you back to the Academy now, instead of later. You are of no use to me." I said emotionlessly, a little bit of sadness creeping into my voice at the end.

And with that, I sent him back to the Academy, straight to onii-sama.

As I turned back to the door, a pang of remorse shot through me as I recalled his tortured expression. I shook my head to get rid of the thoughts, and with a deep breath, I opened the door to the cell, containing Akane.

_'You are an emotionless weapon. You will do anything necessary to hide you identity and complete your mission. No emotion can be allowed, wether it be hate.... or love.'_

_---------------------_

**It's done! this chapter made me feel so sad when i wrote it.... T-T**

**You know, when typed up, this chapter isn't nearly as long as I thought it would be.... He he... sorry about that! I lied. (by accident, but it was a lie none the less)**

**BTW, have any of you guys had a weird encounter with someone who was reading your story? Because, I was eating lunch with a friend, and at another table, I saw someone with a laptop reading chapter 6! It was awesome! but SO weird.... RANDOM!**

**O.O**

**Well, please review! X3**


	11. Chapter 9 EDITED

**Ha ha! I have made this longer! I now know for sure that there will be at least 5 more chapters (most likely more!****) Woot! X3 This is SO much better now. Ah, the magic of 7 Cokes and a bag of Cheetos... -.- Those things really get you thinking you know? =3 But now my stomach feels bad from eating so much junk food... O.o But it was worth it! Now my mind is back to full speed and I will probably go back to adding 1 to 2 chapters each day. =D**

**Natsume POV**

It was Wednesday afternoon and it was raining again. I was in my room sitting on my bed. It was two days after the mission and I was a reck. After Persona found me and dragged me back to my dorm room, I have not left. Not even to see Mikan. Ruka is worried and I'm getting in big trouble for ditching classes, but 'm not ready to go anywhere just yet.

I sighed and rolled over on my bed, reaching to my bedside table and grabbing the apple on it. I took a bite, but then put it back down, not feeling hungry.

_'What's wrong with me?'_ I wondered. Yes, I did just see someone brutally murdered for the hell of it, but that was not the full reason as to why I was still cooped up in my room and not feeling well.

It was the fact of _who_ did. Hell's Angel. Though I know that she's not the nicest person, I had seen a whole new side to her; a side that laughed and could be embarrassed. I felt like I had gotten closer to her, but then she did something so horrible.

_'But it shouldn't matter to me anyways. She's not Mikan after all.'_ I sighed once again and climbing off my bed, I walked over to my balcony door, and slid it open. I walked outside into the the rain.

Plip. Plip. Plip.

The rain hit my skin and I tilted my head up and closed my eyes.

"Natsume!" I heard a voice yell below me. I snapped my eyes open and looked down.

_'Mikan!'_

She was standing on the ground below me, dressed in a pair of warm-ups, soaked. She had bandages wrapped around her head and I could see a cast on her arm where her sleeve was pushed up. I could see the cuts and bruises on her face and little skin that was exposed. She looked like crap.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked angrily. No matter what, I knew that she had not yet been ejected from the hospital.

"He he..." She began nervously, "I, uh... kind of snuck out. I heard you weren't feeling well and-" She stopped and winced suddenly and sank to the ground.

"Mikan!" I jumped down from the balcony next to the girl.

"I-it's nothing, Natsume." she said unconvincingly.

I picked her up bridal style and jumping on a tree near me, hopping from branch to branch until I reached the top, I took her into my room and set her down on my bed. I then went into my bath room and grabbed a towel.

As I walked back in I got a better look at her. She was shivering and covered in mud. Her hair was up in a messy bun and she was pale with dark circles under her eyes. Guilt welled up inside me and looking away, I dropped the towel on her head.

"You're going back to the hospital." I said stoically. "You're not supposed to be here. How did you even get here anyways?"

She began to chuckle but then stopped, wincing and holding her side. "Well, the doctor and the nurse left, so I climbed out my window and came here to find you. I heard from Ruka-pyon that after one of your missions that you haven't come out of your room for 2 days now. He didn't know what was wrong and was worried so.... here I am." She said smiling.

I scoffed. "Whatever." I then picked her up once again, and walked to my front door. Turning the knob with one hand, I pushed it open and began heading to the hospital wing.

"Mou! Natsume! Stop it! I came here to see you and now you're sending me away?" She wined. I rolled my eyes and continued walking. After a while she shut up.

When we finally got to the hospital wing, a nurse, no younger than 20, came running up to us eyes wide. "Sakura-san!" she said gasping, "Where were you? You're not supposed to be up. Everyone is searching for you!"

"The little twit left so she could find me." I said in a bored tone. Mikan glared at me. Noticing me for the first time, the nurse looked up, blushing slightly.

"Y-yes. Could you help bring her to her room, sir?" she stuttered.

"Hn." I followed her to polkas room.

When we arrived, I dropped her on the bed and she yelped.

"What the hell Natsume?! That hurt!" she screeched at me, pouting.

"Hn." I began walking out of the room and paused by the door. "Later, _pandas_." I walked out of the room.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

"HENTAI!!!!!!!!" she screamed.

I laughed and continued walking away.

_'So energetic for having been hit by a tree 4 days before...'_

_-------------------------_

**Mikan POV**

Once I had gotten my bandages changed and was cleaned up, I was left alone in my room. (with a guard outside my door and window bolted shut.)

I laughed happily and stood up from my bed, as I remembered Natsume.

_'I'm glad you're feeling back to normal, kitten.'_ I thought to myself.

Ruka had never told me that Natsume hadn't left his room. No one was even allowed to see me except for onii-sama. But I had been leaving a clone in my place, and sneaking out to check-up on Natsume.

I obviously still felt guilty for what I had to do to Natsume so I could wipe all suspicion, but it was either scar the poor kid for life, or kill him. I chose the latter. Duh!

I walked over to my window and laid my hand against the cold glass and stared at the rain.

_"See you later pandas."_ My small smiled turned into a frown.

_'How the hell did he see them? I was wearing warm-ups!'_ I wondered, my thoughts a mixture of anger and curiosity. (anger being the strongest, though) After a moment, I shrugged and smiled again.

"At least he's back to his normal self. His perverted normal self, though." I murmured, to myself.

Suddenly, upon hearing footsteps coming down the hall outside, headed towards my room, I dashed back to my bed and laid down. The door open with a small squeak.

"Sakura-san?" A doctor asked, stepping into my room. "I'm here to do your daily check up. Today we'll be...-"

I tuned the rest of the words out, as they were always the same, and turned my thoughts back to Natsume.

I giggled as I remembered his surprised face when he saw me and how he actually called me Mikan.

_'Natsume...'_

***sighs* It's short. It was hard at first to even come up with an idea to start up the story again. (stupid huh? It shouldn't have been so difficult.) But it's here! And I will be adding more! XD**

**I feel happy now! And hyper!**


	12. Chapter 10

**See? I told ya! Back to 1 or 2 chapters per day! X3**

**(You all read the edited chapter 9 right? It's completely different.)**

**This chapter will have some similarities to the one I erased, but it's not the end!**

**Thanks people who have been voting and reveiwing. Keep it up! =D**

**well, here chapter... ummm..... 10!**

**Disclaimer: I forgot this last time, but I don't own it anyways.**

**Chapter 10**

**Mikan POV**

It has been 2 weeks since the mission and 3 days since I was allowed to leave the hospital and go to classes. I had to keep my cast on and wear a bunch of bandages and Band-Aids to keep the act up, but I was free! Natsume was back to normal, and we actually, were talking in class right now...

It was the last period of the day, and there was 30 minutes left in class.

*********

"Ne, Natsume?" I asked happily, poking the fire Alice in the arm. "Do you wanna come with me and Hotaru to Central Town after class today? Ruka-pyon is coming too!"

"No." He said grumpily. Natsume, even if scarred for life and still felt guilty for his part in getting me hurt, was still Natsume. I should've expected this! Which I did.

"_Please_?" I asked sweetly, using puppy eyes. (God bless Ruka for teaching me)

He looked at me and his right eye began twitching.

3.

2.

1.

"Fine." he muttered. "But this better be good."

"Yes!" I said, overjoyed. "Victory!"

_'I may have discovered the secret to controlling Natsume, but I still hate being an idiot.' _I grimaced mentally.

I watched silently with a smile as Natsume walked out of the room. When I couldn't hear the kittens footsteps anymore, I ran over to Hotaru and hugged her happily, telling her the news. She patted me on the head and smiled softly.

"That's great Mikan. But remember, if that idiot ever says no, or does anything wrong, come tell me. I kill- I mean _persuade_ him for you." She wasn't smiling anymore, and she had an evil glint in her eye.

I giggled.

Ever since I had gotten hit by the tree, and after I had explained the origins of the large hand shaped bruise on my arm that had come from Natsume gripping me too hard that night, the ice queen developed a new, never before seen side, that loved to hurt Natsume, and take care of me.

I should get nearly killed more often! =D

And though I was the one who helped Natsume get back to normal, I had to get hit my a tree because of this kid! I was healthy now, but let me tell you: It had hurt like hell. That, and I don't forgive _that_ easily. So I did nothing to stop Hotaru from targeting Natsume with the baka gun, knocking over all of his food, destroying his desk, and doing some other... err... things that if mentioned, would get Hotaru arrested.

After Hotaru had finally pried me off her 5 minutes later, with 25 minutes left is class, I told Hotaru, "Hey, I have to go do something important. If Narumi-sensei comes by and asks, tell him I'm at the nurse or something."

Hotaru stared at me momentarily before nodding her head in agreement.

"Thanks!" I said giving her another quick hug. I then ran out of the room. Once I was sure no one could see me, I jumped out of one of the open windows in the hall and after I landed, began heading towards the sakura tree.

---------------------

**Natsume POV**

I was laying down on my sakura tree, resting. I was about to fall asleep when suddenly I felt a familiar wind twirling around me, tossing around my already messy hair.

_'Hell's Angel?'_ I thought with anticipation. I sat up quickly and looked around for her, and saw only a note pinned to the tree with her dagger, its sheath hanging off of it on a black leather strap. _'Oh... She's not here. Not that I care though!'_ I thought stubbornly.

I pulled out the dagger, put it in its sheath, and attached the strap to my belt loop. I then grabbed the note and began to read.

_Natsume,_

It began in an unfamiliar neat lettering,

_Though I am not supposed to make contact with you, I wanted to at least give you this._

_I am sorry for the mission 2 weeks ago. I got... carried away. But I do not regret it. I will make no further contact with you ever again after today. Though I am sure that that is a relief to you..._

_I'll be watching over you and your friends, so they will be safe. Good luck with the rest of your life._

_-Hell's Angel_

_P.S. Keep the dagger._

I had finished reading the letter and was silent as I remembered the fourth line:

_I will make no further contact with you ever again after today._

I didn't know why, but knowing that I would never see the girl again, hurt me. The pain was similar to what I felt when I hurt Mikan. Except worse. It was like I had lost Mikan.

What's up with that?

I love Mikan, not her.

I should be _glad_. I mean, after that mission, I had locked myself up in my room, and had only come out of my room because of Mikan. The thing had seriously messed me up. But who wouldn't have been, after seeing a 250 men killed for the pure fun of it, and the last slowly tortured to tears before ending his life? And she wasn't even Mikan! I had never even seen her real face, for Kami-sama's sake!

But I wasn't glad. It felt like my heart was being torn apart.

_'What's wrong with me?'_ I thought confused, folding up the note and stuffing it into my pocket.

I closed my eyes, and just as I had the day after I had hurt Mikan, a single tear slid down my cheek.

"I didn't think you were the type to cry." I heard a familiar voice say under me.

_'That line!'_ I quickly sat up. "He- Oh. Mikan... it's you." I said, unable to keep the disappointment from my voice.

"Were you hoping for someone else?" she asked quietly, "Hell's Angel perhaps?"

"How do you know her?" I asked surprise coloring my voice.

"Persona and I are close, you know. That means I'm friends with al of the DA." She said in a "No-duh-stupid" kind of tone.

Oh.

I jumped off of the tree and immediately went back to my normal stoic face, and cleared my throat. "Ehem. Yeah..." I said boredly.

"There's only 10 minutes left in class you know. Let's walk to the bus stop and wait for Hotaru and Ruka-pyon!" she said excitedly.

"Hn."

She laughed and grabbing me by the hand, dragged me away to the bus stop.

"Nice dagger by the way." She commented about 10 seconds later "Tenshi gave it to you, huh?" she said knowingly.

"And you know that how?" I asked skeptically.

"I gave it to her." she said giggling when my eyes widened. "It's a good luck charm. I don't know what happened between you two, but she must _really_ like you if she gave you something that important." she said, emphasizing the word "like".

_'She likes me? Then why did she do that at the mission?... Wait- she likes me?! As in like, likes?!' _I almost tripped as the meaning and implication of polkas words finally set in.

We continued walking as I considered the possibility, when I saw something flicker out of the corner of my eye. I stopped and turned my head and saw a figure standing by a large tree. She stood with perfect posture and grace. She was wearing all black clothes and a white mask with sakura blossoms scattered all across it in various graceful arcs and swirls. With a small wave to me, she disappeared into a swirl of sakura petals.

Just like the first time I met her.

_I'll be watching over you._

"Ne, Natsume? What's wrong?" Mikan asked tugging on my shirt sleeve.

With one last look towards the tree's, I turned my attention back to her and said, "Nothing. Let's go."

She smiled at me and we resumed walking to the bus stop.

-------------------

It was 10:00 p.m. now, and I was worn out. How on earth a girl who had a tree fall on her only 2 weeks ago have so much energy was beyond me.

We were all riding back to the dorms on the bus. Imai and I were the only ones sill awake.

I groaned.

"Heh. Tired Hyuuga?" Imai said smirking. _'What the hell did I do to bring out the wrath of Hotaru?'_ I wondered exasperated.

"Hn."

She held her baka gun to my head, "Don't give me your stupid "Hn" thing. Answer me when I'm talking to you.", she said in a dangerous voice.

I cringed and pushed the gun away from me. "Yeah, sure." I answered reluctantly.

"If you ever hurt Mikan again, wether it my emotionally of physically, I _will_ kill you." She said in a scathing voice.

_'Holly shit. She saw the bruise.'_ I resisted the urge to begin smacking myself in the head.

I nodded.

"Good." she said.

The rest of the ride was extremely awkward as Imai continued glaring at me while building some new invention that looked fit for torture.

_'Kami-sama, please help me.'_ I prayed mentally.

----------------------

**Mikan POV**

I listened to Hotaru and Natsume' short conversation, feigning sleep while trying to to burst out laughing. It was hilarious! She single handedly forced an answer out of the great Natsume Hyuuga! Gold. Simply gold...

Including just now, today was a very good day. I discovered that Natsume missed Hell's Angel, has fallen for me as well, had more emotions than just anger, got 30 boxes of Fluff Puffs to take home, and confessed to Natsume indirectly. And he realized it.

_'Thank Kami-sama that I don't have to talk to him as Hell's Angel though. That'd be awkward...!'_

I sighed with content.

I got to "sleep" for 5 more minutes before the bus screeched to a halt. Hotaru shook me awake and we began to walk back to our dorms.

-------------------

I closed and locked my door to my special star room. There was another manilla folder on my bed. I grabbed it and collapsed on the king sized bed.

_'Another mission, huh?'_ I sighed in annoyance while glaring at the folder.

I opened up the folder and began reading. Once finished, I changed into mission attire, this time without my dagger and with an extra bracelet, and opening the door to my balcony, jumped out of my room and headed out.

--------------------

**Natsume POV**

I was standing out on my balcony, staring at the stars with the upmost boredom.

I was about to go back into my room and change out of my uniform, when I saw a flicker of black in the corner of my eye. My head snapped to the direction of the flicker and my eyes widened as I saw Hell's Angel jumping from tee to tree, headed out for what I supposed, was a mission.

_'I have to follow her.'_ I thought automatically. So, with her dagger still attached to my belt loop, and without getting my mask or thinking of the consequences, I chased after Hell's Angel mindlessly, jumping from tree to tree out of the Academy.

**-----------------------------------------**

**OOOH! cliff hanger.... O.o**

**Please review and please vote on 2 of the 5 summaries on the poll on my profile! I will choose the 2 most popular as my next stories!**

**The next chapter will be up soon! o^.^o**

**XD**


	13. Chapter 11

**Next chappy is up! =3**

**Thank you all for over 3,000 hits on my weird little story!**

**I cannot believe that I actually just wrote a third chapter in the same day! . . . Brain power!**

**Disclaimer: Do not own it. Wish I did. But I don't.**

**Chapter 11**

**Natsume POV**

I continued following her. I had to. I _needed_ to.

Why?

I don't know. All I do know, is that whatever happens, I will not lose her. I won't let her keep the promise from the letter.

I continued on following her, silently. Surprisingly, she seemed to have not noticed me.

_'Heh. Personas training worked after all.'_

Or is it just because I am 10 yards back? Whatever.

I continued trailing her until we arrived at some sort of not-so-secret base. It was teeming with thousands of guards. No joking.

_'What organization is this?'_ I had no clue who these people were. They were all wearing uniforms consisting of mostly black and a little bit of red. Each person had a band of either red or black around their arm which, I assumed, identified their position. Every single was armed. From guns, to daggers, to swords, to even bows and arrows.

I was so preoccupied with all that was going on around me, that I just now noticed that Hell's Angel was already down there among the guards. But it seemed as though no one else had noticed her either.

She was slinking around in the dark, seemingly invisible. All of the people continued on with their business walking around and talking, when suddenly, everything stopped.

A man that had been jogging over to another guard with a piece of paper in his hand ,was frozen, one foot on the ground, the other in the air.

The water from a fountain another guard had been drinking from froze.

_'She stopped time.'_ I realized.

She then, gathering her arms up into and X, took a deep breath, and flung her arms back down, sending a blade of wind, ice, electricity, or metal through each person, killing them instantly.

She teleported across the field, and unfroze time.

All of the previously alive guards fell to the ground, blood flowing out of their lifeless corpses.

_'Amazing!'_ I thought with awe, despite my disgust with the massacre . _'I mean- Pretty good. For a girl that is...'_ No way would I admit she was better than me. (even though she is. But I didn't say that)

As she paused to take something from one of the guards, I ran at full speed towards Hell's Angel.

---------------

**Mikan POV**

I was stealing the Alice of shapeshifting from a now dead guard, when I suddenly felt something running towards me at full speed. I looked over sharply and almost screamed in frustration at the sight that met my eyes.

_'That idiot!'_ I screamed mentally. _'He must have seen and followed me when I left!'_

I groaned as he came skidding to a halt next to me with nothing to protect himself but the dagger I gave to him. _'He didn't even bring a mask?'_ I suppressed the urge to hit my head against the wall of the building until I went unconscious.

"What are you doing here?" I asked in the most scathing, unwelcoming voice I could muster. (which by the way, was not hard. Not at all.)

Surprise lit his features at the not-so-warm welcome. Well, what was he expecting? For me to jump on him and give him a hug? Hell no.

"I saw you leaving while I was on my balcony. I don't know why, but I followed." he said coolly.

"Leave."

He quirked an eyebrow.

"I said to leave." I ordered him, pointing in the direction of the Academy.

He crossed his arms and didn't budge.

"Damn it _Hyuuga_," I said snarling his name, "You will not get in my way and jeopardize the mission. This is too important for inexperienced kittens like you to try and help out. You need to leave _now_."

He still didn't move.

"You need to go now! If you don't then I can't-!"

BOOM!

There was a huge explosion right beside us, blowing the two of us 20 yards back.

"Get the intruders!" I heard a feminine voice yell. The ground shook as hundreds of guard ran towards us.

"This is what I meant!" I yelled at Natsume.

"Can't you just freeze time again or something?" he asked franticly.

"No, dumb ass! It's a once a day thing!"

I leapt up off the ground and began attacking and killing everything I could, Natsume doing the same.

I was fighting and doing fine and Natsume seemed to be as well, when I saw a guard coming up on his left with a sword, charging at him. Natsume didn't notice until it was too late.

"NO!"

------------------

**Natsume POV**

I was killing as many people as possible. Burning and stabbing left and right. I had just killed another guard when suddenly I noticed a guard with a sword running at me, but I realized to late.

"NO!" I heard Hell's Angel shout. I was gonna die.

I waited to feel the sharp blade rip through my body. But it never came.

Hell's Angel blocked it for me. I saw the sharp blade slide through the center of her chest, blood and flesh on the tip of it.

Time seemed to freeze on it's own.

She turned to look at me, her mask had fallen off, but she had the same face as the day spent at Central Town. Her red-brown eyes were filled with extreme pain, her hair messed was messed up slightly and a few strands had fallen in her face. She smiled a small pain filled smile, and a trickle of blood slid out of her mouth and down her chin, dripping on to the sword, adding to the blood covering it. She mouthed three words to me, _"I love you." _My eyes widened.

Time resumed.

The swords man yanked the sword back out of her, making her cough blood. He rushed at me, but fell over as a large spike made out of ice was stabbed through his chest. Hell's Angel was standing behind him, her eyes glazed over with pain. She collapsed.

The few left guards rushed at her, pinning her down.

I wanted to help her, but I was enveloped in a bright white light once again, and was transported back to GA. The last thing I saw of her was her eyes flashing from a red-brown color, to a familiar hazel.

_'Mikan...'_

I was back at the Academy.

"MIKAN!" I yelled. My voice was filled with agony and pain.

"No! No, no, no, NO!" I shouted over and over. Persona ran over to me and grabbed me. His eyes were full of confusion, concern, and worry.

"Natsume, what happened? Why are you here? Wheres Mikan?!"

"She's gone." I choked out. "They took her...! It's- it's all my fault!"

-------------------

**It's done! Another humongous cliff hanger! =D**

**Intense chapter. =/**

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	14. Chapter 12

**Woot! The chapter is up! =D**

**LOL thanks everyone for the reviews and the votes! **

**Disclaimer: Nein! Tis not mine....**

**Chapter 12**

**Persona POV**

I was leaning against the sakura tree, waiting for Mikan to come home from her mission. when I suddenly heard a familiar voice shout, "Mikan!" his voice was filed with pain and agony.

_'Kami-sama. Mikan!' _

I ran towards the voice.

"No! No, no,no, NO!" I heard the voice continue shouting. By the last "no", I had arrived, only to see Natsume on his hands and knees.

I ran over to him and grabbed his shoulders. He was shaking.

"Natsume, what happened? What are you doing here? Wheres Mikan?!" I asked him franticly, unable to stop the worry in my tone.

"She's gone!" he choked out, "They took her...! It's-it's all my fault!"

My mind turned into catastrophe.

"What happened?! Explain. Hyuuga!" I shouted, shaking the teenager back and forth.

And so, he explained everything to me.

I released my hold on him, shocked.

"This is all your fault." I whispered in a horrified voice.

He said nothing. He just turned his head away and looked down with his bangs covering his eyes.

I punched him.

He flew back 6 feet and landed hard on his back, having not blocked the punch at all.

"This is all your fault!" I said again, this time shouting.

I looked at his fallen figure and for the first time noticed the dagger hanging off hid belt loop on his right hip. I walked over to him, and bending don, ripped the dagger away from him.

"You have no right to keep this." I said scathingly.

Natsume just looked up at me with dead eyes.

------------------------------------------------

**Natsume POV**

Persona continued yelling at me and beating me up for about another 30 minutes, but I didn't attempt to stop it.

I deserved it.

I was bleeding and bruised and my entire body hurt like hell.

But finally I had to stop him. I caught the next punch he threw at me and looked up at him,

"I know you want to kill me, and you can later, but right now, this isn't helping to get Mikan back. We need to do something right now and save her before they kill her or do something worse. Start by explaining just who that organization is. From what I could tell, they seem to not only have strength, but numbers." My voice was surprisingly calm and much to my delight, did not falter or shake.

Persona dropped his arm in defeat and walked over to the sakura tree an sat down under it. I followed suit. I listened intently as he began speaking.

"They go by the name _Kuro Aisu. _Black Ice..."

----------------------

**Mikan POV**

I had just woken up. My Alice made face was surprisingly still there, so I knew they didn't know my real identity.

I was sitting in a cold, dark, dirty guarded cell. There were spider webs everywhere and there was a slow drip in the corner. Just kidding! It was guarded, but it was actually a lot like my special star room back at GA. It had a big king sized bed (which I was laying on) and was carpeted. There was finely crafted wooden furniture and a bouquet of fresh red roses were set on the bedside table. There was no windows but there was a big sparkling crystal chandelier on the ceiling giving me my light.

The people of _Kuro Aisu_ had for some unknown reason, dressed and treated my wound. They had healed it mostly but there was still a large red mark and it hurt. I knew that it would leave a permanent scar.

_'I sure hope Natsume is safe.'_ I thought idly. _'Onii-sama is probably beating the crap out of him right now.'_ I grimaced at the thought.

I sat up and got off the bed. I walked to big double doors and opened it. Inside it were tons of nice clothes and a note. I yanked it off and read:

_Hell's Angel:_

_We have taken your weapons and your clothes are ruined and blood stained. I suggest you make use of the bathroom we have provided you with and clean up. From there, change into these clothes and wait for further instruction._

I crushed the letter and threw it into the small trash can.

_'They can't keep me here.'_ I thought with confidence. I then used my fire Alice to burn through the big wooden door that I assumed was the exit, but nothing came. I tried again and failed, and for the first time, noticed all of the extra things I was wearing.

They had added to the Alice control devices I was already wearing! Everything was silver. I had multiple rings on each of my fingers. My arms were covered in silver chains and bangles and there was a strange tattoo like thing that was on the upper portion of my arm. On closer inspection, it looked like a bracelet of black flames, dancing around my arm. An alice seal. I also had various anklets and a black choker and other necklaces. On each of my ears there were 4 piercings: 1 in the cartilage, 3 in the earlobe. It was a lot to wear, but it didn't look gaudy. I tried to take them off, but they wouldn't budge. I sighed.

_'At least they won't rust.'_ I thought wryly. I walked over to the bathroom and open the door. Turning on the bath water, I began to undress. I took off the bandages and grimaced at the not yet healed sword wound.

I climbed into the steaming water and sighed with content.

-----------------

I climbed out of the bath water and dried off, after having been in for an hour. I turned to grab the brush which the luckily was there, when I saw something weird in the mirror. I spun around and almost screamed. There was a huge Alice seal covering my upper body! i turned to look at my back in the mirror. On my upper back were beautiful wings that looked like they belonged to an angel. But they were black. All around the wings were various designs that hugged my sides and wrapped around around me to my ribs. They faded away right before they could meet on each side in the front. I then noticed that there was also a seal on the top of my left shoulder. It was a simple black star.

_'WHAT THE HELL?!'_ I screamed to myself.

No wonder i couldn't use my Alice's!

I groaned and after I had gotten over the shock, I went to the closet so I could change.

I ended up picking a simple black spaghetti strap shirt with a slightly low cut back that exposed all of the control devices on my arms and shoulders and the wings on my back, and a pair of shorts. I pulled on knee high black socks and kept bare foot.

I put my hair up in a high pony tail and tied it up with a black ribbon.

I walked over to the bed and picked up the note that had magically appeared there.

_Knock on the door and tell them you are ready. They will escort you to the next place that you need to go. Don't get any ideas. These guys are not as weak as the ones you killed outside._

I sighed once again and did as the note said.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The door cracked open and revealed a large man who, I assumed, was my guard.

"I'm ready." I stated in a none to polite tone.

He just opened the door wider to let me pass through.

I walked through the door and began heading down the hallway, following the large man. We had gone two more steps when three more guards suddenly appeared at the right, left, and back sides.

_'Damn.'_

"So... where we going, Big Guy?" I asked the guard to the right of me.

The one in front answered the question instead of the right, and in a deep voice said, "To the master."

_'Shit. Why me?' _I smacked myself in the forehead, ignoring the curious stares of the guards.

About 3 minutes later, we stopped at a huge pair of wooden doors.

"We're here." the front one announced. He knocked on the wood.

"Come in." an ominous voice said. The front guard pushed the door open, and I walked into complete darkness.

-------------------

**I finished! Review!!!! ^_^**


	15. Chapter 13

**Woot! The chapter is up! =D Umm... apparently, I confused some people by saying "It's finished!" I meant the chapter.**

**LOL thanks everyone for the reviews and the votes! **

**Disclaimer: Nein! Tis not mine....**

**Chapter 13**

**Mikan POV**

I walked into the pitch blackness of the room. I felt the four guards fall back behind me and close the door.

Hundreds of candles started flicking on, one by one, making the room fairly lit, but throwing odd shadows everywhere. At the front of the room, two huge torches were lit, revealing an ominous, powerful looking woman sitting in a thrown like chair.

She was tall, looked like she was in her early 20's, and had long white-blonde hair worn loosely around her shoulders and ice blue eyes. She was dressed in clothes different from the typical _Kuro Aisu_ uniforms. She had on a brown cropped jacket with a white tank top underneath and dark skinny jeans. On her feet were expensive looking strappy black heels.

What kind of "master" is she?

She looked more likely to be a model walking around Tokyo with her friends or on a date than commanding a highly ranked and dangerous organization.

"Hell's Angel?" she inquired, her voice silk.

"What's it to you?" I asked icily.

"Temper, temper." She said with a soft chuckle.

"What the hell do you want with me?" I demanded.

She stood up and walked over to me with out answering me. I glared at her. She stopped in front of me and inspected me with critical eyes.

"You're so... so..." I quirked an eyebrow, waiting for her to finish. "You're _so_ cute!" she she said excitedly, jumping at me and giving me a hug.

Taken aback by the sudden hug, I did nothing for a moment.

"What the hell are you doing?! What kind of 'master' are you?" I asked finally, shoving the weird blonde off of me.

"I'm sorry!" she said with a smile. "It's just that your SO adorable! What with you and your 'Mrs. Tough-and-in-control' act! KYA~!" she squealed again, once again jumping at me and attacking me with a hug.

"Get off!" I shouted, once again pushing her away. _'It's like a female Narumi! Except worse!'_ I thought, panicking.

The weird blonde whose name I have yet to know giggled and thankfully stayed put this time.

Holding out her hand she said, "My name is Utsukushii Hana. But you can call me Hana-chan!"

"Hana-chan?" I asked in a confused voice, shaking her hand.

"Yes!"

"Right, right...." I muttered. "Why am I here?" I asked, getting straight to the point.

"Oh! That's right! I want to recruit you! Be my second in command!" She said enthusiastically.

I just stared at her.

She continued smiling.

I continued staring.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

"WHAT?!" I screeched.

"So you agree!" She said happily.

"How did you get a 'yes' from that?!"

"Yay! I have a Beta! I'll inform-"

"Stop!!!!!"

She stopped.

"I never said yes. Why would you want me as your second?" I asked completely confused.

"Your strong. You're pretty. I like you. Got it?" She said with a smile.

"Oh..." I said slowly. _'I am so confused...'_

"Your answer?" she asked politely.

"First, why did you start up this organization in the first place? You just don't seem like the person to-"

"Because I thought it'd be fun!" she interrupted perkily.

"Huh?" My mouth was wide open with shock.

"Well, you see, I have both the money and the power, and I have been SO terribly bored lately, that I decided to start this!" she said throwing her arms up and waving them around her head.

"You were bored," I began, attempting to digest the information, "so you started up an organization that is involved with: the black market, black mail, assassination, murders, stealing, and terrorism?"

"Yup!" she said with a smile, bobbing her head.

"Oh, Kami-sama... just kill me now." I muttered looking up at the high ceilings.

"So that's a yes?"

I smacked myself in the head.

_'Onii-sama, Natsume, please: come and freaking save me already damn it!'_

_-------------------------------------------_

**Normal POV**

Some where in Gakuen Alice Natsume and Persona both sneezed.

"Mikan." they said together.

--------------------

**Natsume POV**

(1 hour later)

It was 5:00 p.m. and Persona and I were sitting outside, still trying to come up with a way to both find and save Mikan.

I was sitting cross legged directly in front of Persona who was sitting he same way.

On the inside, I was freaking out and ready to kill something, but on the outside I was... somewhat calm and composed. Somewhat.

"Why wouldn't they be in the same place as before?" I asked him impatiently, unable to keep my eye from twitching.

"_Because_, Natsume, they move periodically. If they know we know where their spot is, then of course they'd move." He answered irritably, yawning.

Neither of us had slept a wink last night (or the night before because of a mission) because we were trying to come up with something and we were both extremely irritable.

Basically, outside and inside, we were both wrecks. Who wouldn't be though? After all, we just lost the most important person to us.

"And where's the next spot?" I continued.

"I don't know, damn it! It took us forever just to find the last one!" he shouted.

"I think we should check the last place." I suggested.

"Did you not hear me? They move. A lot." he growled.

"Maybe we can find a clue though." I pushed.

"Fine then. _You_ can go tonight. Alone." He said emphasizing the 'alone'.

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Good..."

"Yeah..."

"...Mm-hmm..."

"...Yup..."

And then we both fell asleep in the grass.

----------------

(3 hours later.)

I woke because of a nightmare of Mikan being tortured to death. (pleasant, huh?) I felt 3 times as tired. My will was renewed, but so was my worry, guilt, and impatience. Plus fear. I sat up and stretched, and for the first time, i noticed it was darkout side. And I was sleeping outside. On the grass.

I looked at my watch: 8:00 p.m.

_'I have to get going.'_ I realized, back to my normal stoic self.

"Persona." I said shaking the DA teacher. "Persona!"

He just mumbled something unintelligible and rolled over.

"PERSONA!" I shouted, smacking him on the head.

"What?! Huh?" he asked, sitting up suddenly.

_'OOC much?'_ I thought wryly.

He looked all around him and when his eyes fell on me, he relaxed. "Oh. Just you."

"Yeah, yeah, it's just me." I said sarcastically. "Get up. I need you to admit entrance so I won't get shocked by the electrical barrier."

Persona sighed. "Yeah." He took out a little black object from his pocket and flipped a small switch.

"That's all it takes?" Geeze....

"Get going." He ordered.

"Fine." I agreed. And with out my mask, I began running towards the wall and jumped over it, headed to the _Kuro Aisu_ lair.

--------------

When I arrived, I couldn't wipe the smirk off my face at what I saw: everything was the same as the day before. Guards roaming around, and going in and out of the large cement building. They had even fixed the giant hole in the wall from the explosion. How though?

_'But it could be a trap....'_ I considered the possibility. _'Whatever.'_

I continued observing and I counted the guards. 1,233.

Okay... This is not going to be easy.

_'Mikan... I'm coming.'_

**WOW. Big change of... err... mood i guess, from the last chapter. =3**

**Note: Utsukushii Hana translates to Beautiful Flower**

**REVEIW!!!!**


	16. Chapter 14

**Sorry for no updates yesterday... I had to go to the dentist, orthodontist, and I had 3 hours of dance... I didn't have the chance to finish. =/**

**Thanks everyone for the reviews and the votes! **

**Disclaimer: Nein! Tis not mine....**

**Chapter 14**

**Mikan POV**

It was 7:00 a.m. and I was in my room/cell, laying down on the big king sized bed.

_'I have _got_ to get out of here!'_ last night, I had faintly sensed Natsume about 400 yards away. I knew that he was coming to save me, but he was gonna get himself killed if he tried to do this alone! _'The stupid kitten better bring reinforcements.'_

I sighed and got up.

_'I need to find a way to get over these stupid Alice control devices as well.'_ Last night, though it was difficult, I discovered that I actually could use my Alice's. I practiced for about an hour and a half with the fire alice and went from a lighter sized flame, to a medium sized fire ball. And with wind, from a little breeze to a hand-sized tornado.

But that was all.

I needed to get better, but I needed to do it in secret, otherwise they may add more controls and seals than I have already. So I decided to practice every second I get, and then maybe I wouldn't need saving after all.

I went into the bathroom and filled up the stupidly big tub halfway with water so I could begin training the water and ice Alice. I was then going to work on each Alice one at a time. It was the only way. From mind reading, to shapeshifting, and electricity, I needed to get back to half, or maybe even full, strength.

I started with creating an orb of water the size of a beach ball and started to create different shapes out of it. I had just began turning the orb of water into an orb of ice, when suddenly, I lost control of my Alice and it went crashing down into the half way filled tub with a splash.

I took a deep breath and regained concentration.

_'One at a time...'_

-------------------

**Natsume POV**

The two of us were sitting in the middle of the training field. I had once again, skipped all of my classes.

We both had gotten some sleep last night, so our worries and anger were more under control, but we couldn't help the occasional twitching of an eye, or punching each-other spontaneously, because the other wouldn't listen.

"Persona, they're in the same place. We have to go now." I said emotionlessly. If we didn't go soon, they would move or something horrible would happen to Mikan. I clenched my hands into fists.

"_Kuro-neko_, that may be true, but if we just rush in there right now, we'll both get killed." Persona countered.

"But, then _when_?" I asked him in a cool voice while glaring, somehow managing to keep my cool. "I thought that you cared about Mikan. If we leave her there, who knows what'll happen?"

"Shut up." He hissed angrily. He brought one arm up and I thought that he was going to punch me again, but then he put it back down, and in a strained voice said, "I do care. But if we both die because we were being irrational and reckless, that will just make things even worse." He then stood up and walked a few feet away from me.

I wanted to destroy something so bad just then, but unfortunately, he was right. My right eye twitched slightly.

"Tch. What do we have to do then?"

"Train. Get stronger. Get re-enforcements." He explained calmly.

"I don't know about getting help, but I'll train." I said in partial agreement.

There was a moments silence, when suddenly, Persona turned and attacked me. I barley blocked the kick and jumped back, cursing silently in the process.

"What the hell?!" I asked angrily.

"We are at the training field," he explained casually, a hint of steel in his voice, "and you just agreed to train and get stronger. We're starting now. Welcome to hell."

And with that, he once again leapt forward to attack me.

--------------------------

(8 hours later. After practice.)

I could not move a muscle.

There were cuts and bruises all over my body and I think I sprained an ankle. I had gotten most of them healed at the hospital wing, but I was still sore.

_'That stupid sadist. He just wanted to beat me half to death. Not train me.'_ I thought angrily.

And it was true. I had barley landed a kick or punch on the DA teacher. I had only made contact with him 12 times by the end of the 8 hours and each was barley more than a tap. Meanwhile, he was kicking me and punching me, and beating the crap out of me. Just like he said, it was hell.

I was sitting in my bathroom, letting the bath fill up with hot water. I couldn't wait to get in- that is if I could get my useless muscles to cooperate long enough to move the 3 feet into the water.

I sighed.

The tub was now full and I struggled to move those 2 steps to turn off the faucet and get in.

I finally reached it and climbed into the steaming water with a sigh of content.

_'How the hell is killing me going to make me stronger?'_ I wondered absentmindedly. I sighed again and sank deeper into the water. _'But despite the hell, I can make it, because this is for Mikan.'_

I felt a sharp pain in my chest as I thought her name, bringing up the memory of last night.

Last night when I had been observing the _Kuro-Aisu _lair, I had sensed her presence. It was faint but defiantly there. I was so close, yet so far. I couldn't do a thing.

I let out yet another sigh, this time of exhaust, and completely submerged myself under water.

------------------------

**Mikan POV**

I was panting hard and my muscles were shaking. I had been working on 5 of the Alice's I used the most, for the past 10 hours. I had more than half-way mastered; Fire, wind, and mind-reading, and pretty much completely mastered the Alice of water and ice. (They're a lot easier to master when you've already done it once)

After resting for a minute, I took a deep breath and resumed working on the finishing touches with the water and ice Alice. This time, I was creating ice or water out of thin air instead of with the tub water, and cut apart random things with water blades or sent spikes and needles of ice into them so that I could test strength and sharpness.

I had just finished slicing apart an expensive looking wooden desk (sorry Hana!) into millions of pieces, when suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and one of the guards cracked the door open. I froze, ready to come up with an excuse for the destruction, or to attack, but the door was opened no further. I relaxed.

"The master wants to see you." He said in a deep monotone voice.

I sighed, and in a bored, uninterested tone, answered, "Whatever Bug Guy, I'll be there in a sec.."

He grumbled something unintelligible and closed the door.

Groaning in annoyance because of the interruption and almost being discovered, I walked over to the closet and put on some new clothes.

--------------

When we arrived at the destination, It was completely different from Hana's err... throne room thingy. Instead of being lit with candles and torches, It was lit with actual light bulbs. I took a quick look around and realized that though it was currently empty, it was a training room. There were mats and chin up bars and hundreds of other things to get in shape and work on fighting. There was also Hana, standing there looking as bubbly, blonde, and pretty as ever. And there was also a really cute guy around my age standing next to her. I made a quick inspection. Make that hot.

He was around my age, maybe one or two years older. He was Natsume's height and had soft looking messy brown hair, bright blue eyes, and tanned skin. Though he was muscular, he was not like the body builders, and was just toned. He was wearing a black jacket with a hood and loose fitting faded jeans (he fights in those, how?), and like me, was barefoot. With one quick glance I could tell that he was both strong, fast, and knew how to fight.

I walked towards the two, my face expressionless.

"Hi! This is Daichi," Hana said once I was directly in-front of her, gesturing to the, newly named, hot boy beside her. "and he is going to be your new trainer! Though he is young like you, he is one of the strongest!"

I just stared.

"Why do I need a trainer?" I asked icily.

As though she didn't notice my tone, Hana continued smiling and answered, "Well, because right now you can't use your Alice's, I thought you should learn how to better fight without them! That and you need to keep in shape." With a last smile for me, she skipped out of the training room, shouting "Don't kill each other!" as she went through the doors, leaving me alone with Daichi.

I turned my attention to him and glared the glare that made most flee or pee in there pants, directly at him. Though he is hot, he is the enemy.

He glared right back, seemingly unaffected.

_'I think I like this guy.'_ I thought, smirking.

----------------------

I had been training with Daichi for about 4 hours now and we were now moving on to weapons training. The first hour or so had simply been spent testing me and warming up. I discovered that that Daichi is a lot like Natsume; just more serious and less perverted.

We were currently practicing with two handed great swords* and going through fighting sequences and routines. Though I wasn't showing it on the outside, on the inside I was pretty beat, and my movements, though still fast, were slowing a little bit.

I had just finished parrying a blow from the right, when he suddenly twisted the sword in a graceful arc and brought it down towards me. I was too tired from 10 hours of Alice training and 4 hours of working with him to bring the sword up fast enough to block. It was also too fast for him to pull it back. I looked up numbly as I saw the large, sharp blade, rushing down at me in a blur.

------------------------

**Yay! I finished the chapter! Sorry once again for the late update! =D**

***two handed great sword pict: h t t p : / / i m g . y a h o o . c o . k r / g a m e / s i l k r o a d / s i l k r o a d o n l i n e _ 4 / g d a t a _ i m g / i t e _ i m g / e s w _ v i e w / 1 0 . j p g (Remove spaces)**

**REVEIW!!!!**


	17. Chapter 15

**next chapter is here! X3**

**Disclaimer: Never have owned it, most likely never shall. T-T**

**Chapter 15**

I watched numbly as the blade rushed towards me in a blur. Contemplating on wether or not to let it kill me, or use an Alice to save myself and risk more controls, I didn't create a barrier of wind and ice until the very last second, when a picture of Natsume and Onii-sama flashed through my mind.

_'I can't die yet.'_

The blade cut a few inches into the ice, but I had made it strong enough to stop it from going any further, I then, using the wind, threw the sword away from me and out of the grip of a momentarily stunned Daichi, and onto the ground 10 yards away from where we were standing.

It landed with a large clatter and I stabbed my own sword 6 inches into the concrete next to me.

With another glare at the ever so hot Daichi, I began walking out of the training room, but then stopped as I heard to pairs of hands clapping behind me.

I turned and saw Daichi- and Hana, who had appeared out of no where- clapping with approval.

"Good job." Hana said approvingly, her voice for once serious, her face calm. Her normally warm blue eyes had turned icy and cool, as if she was calculating and making decisions in her mind. "I have to ask- how did you manage it? Those alice controls and seals diminish your power to practically nothing. Yet, you managed to use them and make them stronger with practice. That is why you destroyed my desk, yes? Practicing?"

I just glared at her without answering.

Personality change, much?

She smirked.

"Fine. You truly are good enough to be my Beta. But don't expect me to let you continue running around with that power. Until you agree, you need another seal." she said coolly.

_'Oh hell no.'_ I thought angrily. I had to get away from her.

I grabbed the sword from out of the concrete.

She took one step forward. I took two steps back.

I used the cat/dog Alice spontaniously, without having ever practiced with it so that If I needed to run, my speed would be about doubled.

Unlike Permy, I looked more catlike. I had black cat ears and a tail and my nails grew longer, harder, and sharper. I thankfully no whiskers and my eyes turned yellow. The canines in my mouth became longer and razor sharp.

She chuckled.

"So you can use that one too? And to such an extent..." she said, amazement coloring her voice. "Daichi. Your Alice." Hana ordered.

Daichi nodded and turned into a large wolf with dark brown fur, black eyes, and sharp, lethal looking claws. He growled menacingly.

_'So much for being hot... too bad. I was starting to like him.'_ I thought with pity.

"I was hoping I could continue being nice- I really do like you, and you really are cute- but it doesn't seem to be working, does it?" she asked me sadly, bringing my attention back to her.

I just continued glaring at her.

"Here kitty kitty." Hana cooed.

I hissed and took another step back, preparing to turn and run.

She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Come." she said quietly, her creepy smile still in place. "You know you can't escape. I have the power to do anything I want... like attacking your precious Academy, for example. Not that I would do something so low to make you come, but still.... And I can give you power too. The power to do anything that you want. Wouldn't you like that?"

I knew that she was right, but I could tell she was being truthful when she said she wouldn't attack them to get to me.

_'I should become her Beta. I can escape later....' _I suddenly realized. _'Act like I'm on her side and power hungry, then get her to remove the seals and leave. It's perfect!'_

With the plan in place, I stopped using my Alice and stood up straight, to show her that I would not run away.

"Power?" I asked in a plain voice, "I can have power?"

Thinking that she was winning, her smile became real, and she gladly answered in a more Hana-chan-like voice, "Yes. Of course you can. Come here." She said gesturing to me.

I took a step forward but hesitated and looked over to Daichi uneasily. Realizing my problem she turned to Daichi, "No more of your Alice. Stop."

Daichi transformed back to his normal self, but was still glaring at me. I glared back and walked over to Hana.

She had her hand reached out to me, and I took it.

"Be my Beta?" she asked seriously.

"Yes." I answered without hesitation.

"Good." she said with a smile.

_'The plan is working.'_ I realized with hidden excitement.

But then all of the sudden, there was a massive shock through out my body. I fell to the floor and looked up to see Hana standing over me with a cruel face. Daichi was looking at me with pity, but did nothing.

"I have to make sure this is not just a trick, so I'm binding you. It won't make a difference if you were serious, but if not... you're out of luck." she said coolly.

I tried not to scream as the pain continued, and I noticed all of the control devices disappearing from my body, except the piercing in my ears. The seals all stayed though. I felt the wings on my back changing and moving from the black wings of angel to a strange black cross. The star on my shoulder became slightly larger. The bracelet of flames extending, wrapping all up and down my arm, and crawling up to my neck and a little bit of my face, it wrapped over my other shoulder and circled around to my lower back, where it finally stopped. I then felt a massive burning sensation from everywhere that the seals were, and a pain worse than the rest erupting from my upper back, and I finally let out a scream.

--------------

**Natsume POV**

Persona and I were sitting outside the lair of _Kuro Aisu_. I had gotten been sleeping when Persona came to get me, claiming that Serina-sensei predicted that it was important that we came to their lair today.

We were just about to leave, when all of the sudden, we heard a high pitched scream rip through the air like a sword.

_'Mikan.' _I realized with horror.

The sky darkened as clouds covered up the sun and a steady rain began.

"Persona.... that-" I couldn't finish my sentence.

"Yes." he answered.

"We have to go now." I said seriously. I was about to jump down and rush into the building to find Mikan, but Persona grabbed my arm before I could move.

I turned to look at him.

"We can't. Not yet. Tomorrow we will, though. I got permission from the principal, and even though you only got to train for a day, we will be launching a full scale mission with all of the DA and our best spy's." He said seriously.

"Damn it Persona!" I shouted angrily, ripping my arm from his grip. "We have to go NOW! You heard that scream! Mikan needs us!"

I could tell it was taking Persona all it had to not rush down there himself, but I didn't care.

"I am going. Wether you come or not!" i shouted. I was going to jump down there, when all of the sudden, I felt pain in the back of my neck, and next thing I knew, I was being pulled under black waters.

"Sorry Natsume... but not yet."

----------------------------

**Hana POV**

I looked down at Hell's Angel, my face was expressionless, but my eyes were full of pity for causing her the pain. I looked over to Daichi and saw the same face.

Her seals were changing and expanding, and from the cross on her back, large, angel wings erupted and spread out to their full length. But they were black.

They were wings stained with the sin of death.

It was about 10 minutes later that she stopped writhing and screaming in pain. Her seals were glowing a bright white and she looked up to me with wide, blood red eyes. The feathers on her wings rippled, and she folded them in. The glowing stopped on her seals, but her eyes stayed the same red.

"Get up." I commanded.

She obeyed.

"I am Utsukushii Hana, your master. You are my Beta, AKA: my second in command. And your name is Shinda Tsubasa." I smiled at her sweetly, my eyes once again soft as they were the first time we met (not that she'd remember), "Death wings."

"Yes, Oujo-sama." She answered mechanically.

-----------------

***Evil laugh* A cliff hanger!!!! HA HA HA! Was this chapter good? was it? Hmm????? tell me! (I'm hyper!!!!)**

**XD**

**_REVEIW!!!!_**


	18. Chapter 16

**Next chapter is here! =D**

**Disclaimer: I sadly do not own it.....**

**Chapter 16**

**Mikan POV**

I woke up, not knowing who I am or where I was. I looked up and saw a beautiful woman with white blonde hair and ice blue eyes. Next to her was a man with tan skin, bright blue eyes, and messy brown hair.

The feathers on my wings rippled and shifted, and I folded them in.

_'Who are these people?'_

"Get up." the woman commanded in a smooth voice. For some reason, I obeyed.

"I am Utsukushii Hana, your master. You are my Beta, AKA: my second in command. And your name is Shinda Tsubasa." She said in a sweet voice. Her eyes were warm and she was smiling at me. "Death wings."

_'Death wings?'_ I glanced at my back. _'I do have wings... so it does make sense...'_

"Yes, Oujo-sama." I answered automatically.

"Come here." she said, holding out her hand.

I walked over to her and placed my hand in hers without hesitation. I looked up to her with an expressionless face. She frowned slightly because, as far as I can tell, the lack of emotion or expression that I showed on my face and in my voice.

"Is there a problem?" I asked her.

"No, no." she said waving her free hand up and down. I knew it was a lie, but I said nothing.

"Shinda," she began, walking through a set of doors, taking me with her, "Now that you have awakened, there are thing that you need to know and have to see. Come with me, an I'll teach you all about the world we live it. For starters, you are at the base of _Kuro Aisu_. It is the organization that you and I command..."

--------------------------------

**Normal POV**

He was driving in the car as fast as possible.

Who was he running from? _Kuro Aisu_ of course.

He had gotten a lone of $100,000 from them and he was supposed to pay them back today, but he didn't have the money. So he ran. He was 5 miles away from from the plane that would take him to America, and hopefully safety.

4 miles.

3 miles.

2 miles.

1 mile.

There was only 3/4 of a mile left, when his car suddenly broke down. With a feeling of dread, he scrambled out of the car and into the milky moonlight, running towards his destination with the moon as his guide.

He was running and running as fast as he could, and there was only 1/4 of a mile left. He thought that he'd make it. But then the moonlight was suddenly blocked above him, and on the ground he saw the shadow of two large wings. Skidding to a halt, he looked up, shaking, only to see black wings of death and glowing red eyes descending upon him.

The man let out a strangled shriek of terror.

And that was the last anyone heard from Yasanobu Hatake.

------------------------

**Mikan POV**

I was flying far above the clouds, invisible against the night sky. Having completed the first mission since my "awakening". I was heading back home to oujo-sama.

_Shinda._ I heard a voice whisper in my head.

_Oujo-sama?_ I asked uncertainly. Could this be something that I gained when I was bonded? A mental link perhaps?

_Shinda._ It repeated again, the link growing fuzzy, _Look down. Go to t- saku-a -ee- h--_

And the connection with the mysterious voice cut off. I looked down like the voice said, and saw a a chain of interconnected buildings all surrounded by a gate.

Gakuen Alice.

Oujo-sama had told me about the school. Not knowing why the voice wanted me to head there, I ignored the Academy and continued on home.

--------------------

I flew to the outside of the organizations lair and landed softly on the grass. I folded my wings in and walked over to oujo-sama who had been waiting for my return.

"Ah, Shinda!" Oujo-sama exclaimed happily. "Welcome home. You mission was a success I presume?"

"Yes, oujo-sama." I answered seriously.

"Tell me everything that happened. From when you left to when you came home." she said with a smile.

_Lie. She cannot know of the voice._ Something inside me ordered. And I obeyed.

--------------------

**Natsume POV**

(10 minutes before)

I woke up in my room. The only light I had was that of the full moon. I sat up and winced.

Why did my neck hurt?

Right. Persona.

I rolled out of my bed and walked to my door so I could leave my room. The invasion was tomorrow, but I would not wait. I tuned the knob and- Nothing. It wouldn't budge! I tried to burn it down. It wouldn't burn. Angry, I ran over to my balcony door, only to see a note taped to the handle.

_You try and leave, you can't come to the DA invasion of Kuro Aisu._

_You you most likely will not anyways. After your reckless actions earlier today, the principle and I are unsure of wether or not you can be trusted to follow orders._

_Stay._

_-Persona_

Damn it!

Angry, I punched a hole through the balcony doors glass, cutting my and, and waking up some students with the loud crashing sound of the glass breaking. I ripped the note off the door and burned it to a crisp.

"You want to help, right?" a voice behind me asked monotonously.

I spun around, only to see none other than Imai Hotaru.

"Bloody hell... how did you get into my room?" I asked her in the same tone.

"Secret." she said boredly. "Look, I don't know exactly what's going on, but I do know that you need to get out of the Academy tomorrow night. Or tonight I guess... It's 3:37 a.m.. Anyways, I can help you. If your willing to pay." she said with an evil glint.

I nodded my head without hesitation.

"8:00 p.m.. Meet me in homeroom." she began to walk away but then paused and added, "I don't know what's going on exactly, but you'd better bring Mikan back home safe. I'm not an idiot. I've known for a while that something was up. There's no way that they would just randomly take her in for extra tests due to her injuries and not let anyone see her. What she's involved with? I have no clue. But it's not good- that I do know. The cost is $25. You get half off because it's for the idiot." and with that she disappeared.

_'What the hell?' _I walked over to where the normally stoic and unsociable inventor was standing and saw a little black square and a note.

_Hologram machine. $18 a piece._

I sighed. Typical Imai.

**Ah... I think that this chapter may have both sucked, and been boring... I know it was short. -_-'**

**I hope not....**

**The next chapter will be more exciting and longer! (I think) X3**

**Simon says review!**

**(Me: But my name is Ichigo! =D **

**Miki: That was stupid and random. *throws a book at my head***

**Thunk!**

**Me: Ow!)**


	19. Chapter 17

**Next chapter is done!!! =3**

**Disclaimer: I sadly do not own it.....**

**Chapter 17**

**Natsume POV**

It was 7:58 p.m., and as I thought, Persona did not let me come to the invasion. They had left 30 minutes ago to observe and prepare so I was easily able to sneak out of my room to go to my homeroom. I was walking down the halls, headed towards the meeting grounds. I attached Mikan's dagger (which I stole back from Persona) to my belt loop once again. Having arrived I slid the door open into the dimly lit room, stepped in, and shut it behind me.

I made a quick sweep of the room, searching for the stoic inventor.

"You arrived on time... surprising." I heard a bored voice muse behind me.

I turned around and saw Imai stepping out of the shadows.

"Where is it?" I asked impatiently. She just looked at me. I sighed. Digging into my pocket, I pulled out a wad of cash, "Here."

She snatched it out of my hand and began counting the cash. "Catch." she muttered distractedly, tossing me a small black object.

I caught it with ease and saw a small black orb.

"This will help me how?" I asked her skeptically.

She muttered something about stupid boys and stuffed the cash into her pocket. "Throw the orb at the electric barrier and wait about 5 seconds. It will create a disturbance in the barrier just large enough for you to get through. It works for 2 minutes and can be used more than once." she instructed.

I looked back down at the little black orb and back up to Imai to thank her, but she was gone. I looked around to see if it was another hologram, but found nothing.

"How does she do that?"

-------------------

**Normal POV**

She watched stoically as Natsume opened a window and jumped down, running off towards the wall. Once she made sure that he made it through safely, she stepped out of the shadows where she had been hiding.

"Bring her back safely, idiot." she muttered.

--------------------

**Mikan POV**

"Shinda." a voice called to me.

"Yes, oujo-sama?" I answered.

"The DA class and spy's have come from Gakuen Alice to attack us. Change your appearance and prepare for battle." Oujo-sama said in a stoic voice. She began walking away from me and added, "If you see the Black cat while you are fighting, kill him. That is an order."

"Yes, oujo-sama."

_Don't fight Shinda._ The voice from last night said.

_Why?_ I asked uncertainly.

_You will regret it._ It replied, it's voice once again becoming fuzzy.

_Why? Why would I regret it?_

_Because t- kitt-n - - lo-_ And the voice cut off again.

Once again, I ignored the voice.

_'It's all your imagination, Shinda.'_ I told myself. _'Right?'_

----------------------

**Natsume POV**

I was hiding outside of the base. I could see the DA class from where I was. There were 264 of us (including the guards that were sent to help).

_'I wonder when it will all sta-'_

BOOM!

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud explosion to the right of me where the DA was hiding.

_'They knew we were coming!'_

Down below me I saw the cause of the explosion: A girl my age with straight shoulder length dark brown hair, glowing red eyes and black wings. There were strange markings all over her cream colored skin. She stood there with grace, her eyes hard and her face emotionless, one arm extended towards where the explosion was.

All of the Gakuen Alice agents, spy's and DA student jumped at her all at once from out of the smoke, weapons and Alice's ready.

With her stoic expression still intact and a flick of her wrist, two thousand guards appeared out of no where.

_'We are SO out numbered.'_ I realized with a bad feeling. But they actually seemed to be doing fine. For every 1 of our men taken down, 30 of theirs were.

We were winning- that is until the girl joined in. One by one, she began taking each of my teammates out. Wether they were dead or alive, I didn't know.

She was heading towards an unsuspecting Persona, and I stepped in by sending a large fir ball directly at her.

She stopped it right before it hit her with a wall of water, and then jumped off of the ground, and began flying straight towards me.

_'Oh, shit.'_

I jumped from tree to tree, trying to lead her away from the main fight. She followed me, gaining on me every second. When I saw a large clearing, I stopped and jumped down. She landed a few yards away from me.

"Oujo-sama wants you dead." she hissed. "She said that if I see _Kuro Neko_, that I must exterminate him immediately. You are the him, right?"

Inside I wanted to run away, but Natsume Hyuuga does not run, so, "Of course I am. Do you actually thing you could stop me?" I scoffed arrogantly.

She growled at me and lunged.

---------------------------

**Mikan POV**

I lunged at the _Kuro Neko _with killer intent. He jumped at me as well, throwing a fire ball at me. I dodged it and punched him.

I hit him square in the face and he was thrown back against a tree.

_Stop!_ the voice shouted. I ignored it.

I walked over to him with a spike of ice in my hand, ready to stab him, when he suddenly jumped up and lunged at me again, this time trying to kick my legs out from under me. I jumped up and flew 10 feet into the air. He started rapidly throwing fire balls at me at all angles. I had dodged them all, when it started to rain fire above me, some of it hitting and burning my wings. Bleeding and burned, I was forced to land and was then surrounded by a ring of fire. He jumped through it and ran towards me, this time holding a familiar dagger. But I didn't know why it was familiar. Ignoring it, I created my own sword, made of fire.

Though he was surprised by my weapon, it quickly passed and he attacked me. I sliced at his chest, but he dodged the blow and dashed under my sword and at me, dagger aimed at my heart. Making my own sword disappear in a flash, I caught his wrist and ripping the dagger from his grip, I threw him hard against another tree, this time creating a large mark in the tree where he hit. He tried to get back up, but I threw multiple spikes of ice at him, pinning him to the tree and rendering him helpless.

I walked over to him silently, using a gust of wind to erase the fire, and stopped right in front of him.

Leaning down, I whispered in his ear, "The great _Kuro Neko_, the Academy's top spy, was taken down so easily." I chuckled. "How does it feel to lose like this? To know that you failed at your pathetic attempt to stop me and save your friends? And now, despite all of your efforts, you're going to by by your own weapon that was brought to slay me." I leaned back away from him and took a step back.

He glared at me, looking unafraid and unaffected on the outside, but his eyes reviled hidden anger, hate, and fear. I smiled and raised the dagger.

_NO!_ the voice screamed.

_"_Good-bye." I whispered coolly. I brought the dagger down at him, but then stopped, inches away from his chest.

I felt a cold presence wash over me.

_Who are you?_ I asked, frightened. _Let me go!_ I screamed in my head, unable to move my body.

_No. You will not kill Natsume, _the voice snarled. _Remember! _I felt my body take a few steps back and drop the dagger into the grass with a soft thud. I looked down and saw _Kuro Neko _was looking at me with wide eyes.

I momentarily regained control over my self, and dropped to my knees, hands on my head.

"Go away." I whispered. "Leave me alone!" I shouted, grabbing the dagger once again. _Kuro Neko_ flinched when he saw me once again pick it up. I tried to finish the job oujo-sama assigned to me, but then the presence came over me again, stronger than before, and made my wings snap out, preparing for flight.

_No!_ I screamed at the voice, _I have to finish this mission. Oujo-sama gave it to me! _I for the second time gained control over my self and creating a large spike of ice at shot it at my target, prepared to finish the job, when the force came back, so strong, I couldn't even think. It teleported me in front of the spike of ice before it could hit him, and got stabbed in the chest once again.

_I really need to stop getting stabbed..._ The voice mused with a mirthless chuckle.

_What do you mean _you_ need to stop getting stabbed? Who are you? _I asked.

The voiced laughed. _I am you, you are me. We are Mikan Sakura. _The voice explained. _Remember. _Mikan- or umm... the inner me whispered before once again disappearing. A vision of a large sakura tree and Kuro Neko- no- Natsume and I sitting in it, flashed through my mind. The two of us were talking and laughing and the name nick-name "Kitten" popped into my mind.

_'Part of my memory...' _

I backed away slowly and unfurled my wings. A tear slid down my cheek and I jumped up into the air and flew away from a startled Natsume.

"Good-bye, kitten." I whispered sadly, flying away.

I had almost arrived at the _Kuro Aisu_ base, when I fainted from blood loss and fell from the sky.

-------------------

**Natsume POV**

I watched the random changes in attitude towards me with confusion.

She tries to kill me, she stops. She tries to kill me, she stops again. She almost succeeds in killing me, she gets herself stabbed so she can save me.

I watched silently, eyes wide as she paused, murmuring to her self about tree's and boys. She then turned to me and began backing away slowly. With a small sad smile, she jumped into the air and flew away.

"Good-bye kitten," I somehow heard the girl whisper. I felt a drop of water hit my cheek.

_'My nickname...'_ I realized. My brain went numb.

I watched emotionlessly as she flew away. She had gone about 200 feet, when I saw her stiffen and fall from the sky.

The spiked of ice that had previously pinned me to the tree disappeared. I stood up and dashed towards where she fell, one thought running through my mind the entire time, _'Mikan.'_

**Hmm.... that was indeed longer. And exciting.... I SUCCEEDED! X3 **

**REVEIW!!!!!!**


	20. Chapter 18

**WOW. I got a lot of reviews! Thanks! XD**

**Disclaimer: I sadly do not own it.....**

**Chapter 18**

**Persona POV**

We were currently winning, but I knew that we would have to draw back soon. Because the enemy had apparently known we were coming, we had been fighting non-stop for a very long time. I could tell that my students were getting tired and they were beginning to get sloppy after having killed so many people already.

As I took down yet another of the enemy with my Alice, I saw a student stop to take a breath and almost get beheaded for momentarily letting down his guard. Almost. He killed the person, but it was very close, and more and more were doing the same. Soon, we would be over taken.

"Retreat!" I shouted.

All of those under my command began running into the forest, dashing through the trees into safety.

As she ran by, I grabbed my favorite student by the shoulder. "Nobara," I told the wide eyed girl, "I'll be back later. For now, you're in charge. GO."

With a short nod, she ran off, shouting orders to some as she went.

_'Now it's time to find the idiot, Natsume.'_

Though I was glad he helped me, the brat should have been at GA.

_'How did he do it?'_ I wondered idly as I began searching.

I was in a small clearing, when I looked up and saw the bird girl who attacked me earlier flying back to her home base. Her flight pattern was becoming ragged and unstable and she suddenly stiffed. Folding her wings in, she dropped out of the sky like a wounded bird; which is what she was. even from where I was I could see the large gash in her stomach that was bleeding badly.

For an unknown reason, I had the strong urge to save her. Using a boulder to get extra height, I jumped up and caught the girl. I landed hard on my back but the girl was okay. I ripped part of my shirt and stuffed it in the wound to stop the bleeding.

Making a quick inspection, my eyes widened and I gasped at the markings all over her arm, neck, and face.

_'Those flames...'_

The black flames were the mark of the infamous Utsukushii Hana; the freedom reaper or the black flame mistress. She had the Alice of bind. It was a mark that both increased the power of it's host and gave the caster complete control over them. (also known as a bond) Depending on how much the person resisted when bonded determined the size of the markings: the more resistance=larger marks or Less resistance=little or none.

_'She _really_ didn't want the bond.'_

Though the physical mark could not be removed, the part that made them obey could be. But the caster had to either willingly remove it or die.

The girl shifted in my arms and cracked open weary eyes the color of blood. I gasped slightly.

"What's your name?" I asked her seriously.

She weakly began to reply, "My name is M-"

"Shinda!" A voice shouted, interrupting her. Utsukushii Hana ran towards us, a wolf with dark brown fur following behind her. When the two stopped, the wolf turned into a human. He too was marked. Though it was hard to tell, his eyes were an unnatural electric blue and through his torn shirt I had seen a swirling mark of fames on his back for a split second when he changed from wolf to human. He stood by Hana silently.

"What did you do to her?!" the freedom reaper asked, enraged by the condition of "Shinda".

I grabbed the girl tighter and was going to run, but Natsume thankfully appeared to help.

"Get out of here." he hissed. "Get her to the Academy now."

"Fine," I agreed, "but take that boy there with you. He's under the bind Alice against his free will." I explained quickly. "And take this," I tossed him a turquoise stone, "It's an Alice stone with teleportation. Use it and escape with the boy."

He nodded and picking up Shinda, I ran off, headed towards Gakuen Alice at top speed, doing my best to ignore the gun shots and explosions that followed soon after my departure.

-----------------------

**Natsume POV**

"Give her back!" blondie shouted. She tried to run after them, but I encircled her in a ring of flames, leaving out the wolf-boy Persona wanted me to save.

"You're not going anywhere." I snarled.

As Blondie freaked out, I ran behind Wolf-boy and hit him hard in the head, knocking him out for about 5 minutes.

_'Strange that he didn't resist...'_

I could tell that he was a pretty equal match to me and could have put up a good fight. I shrugged it off and turned my attention back to Blondie when she shot at me.

"You've got a gun? Cool." I commented, jumping into the ring of fire. She glared at me and shot again."Not so tough with out an army, huh?" I drawled provokingly, dodging all of the bullets. She shot again and again until she ran out of bullets.

"Out of ammo? Too bad." I said with mock sympathy. "A weakling like you couldn't hurt me anyways." I said coolly.

I then jumped out of the ring and closed the fire in on her, burning blondie to death. She let out a few strangled cries of pain before going silent.

I then went to the _Kuro Aisu_ lair and set fire to the entire building and made it explode, destroying everything within 30 yards of it and destroying the remains of _Kuro Aisu_ guards. Panting from the over use of my Alice from exploding the entire building, I wearily walked back to the Wolf-boy who, by now, was awake.

"Let's go. You're coming with me to Gakuen Alice." I said. I started coughing and a splotch of blood came out. "Now." I said in-between coughs. He obeyed and walked over to me. Concentrating on the Alice stone, I transported us both to Gakuen Alice, outside the hospital wing. I walked in and with a racking cough and a sharp pain in my chest, I collapsed in the lobby.

--------------------------------

**Mikan POV**

I woke up to a methodical beeping and the smell of medicine. Morning light was streaming through the window. I sat up, wincing at the pain in myand found myself in a hospital room.

My mind was clear, I had my entire memory back, and I some how knew that "Hana-chan" was dead.

There was the nearly silent sound of footsteps outside my door, and then Onii-sama came in. (without his mask)

"Ah, your awake," He observed.

"Yup!" I said with a small smile. "How are you Onii-sama?"

He paused and his eyes widened, "Onii-sama...? Mikan?" He asked with surprise.

"No duh, Sherlock." I said, sarcasm dripping from my every word. "What kind of brother are you?"

"Well you don't look like her." He muttered, his cheeks flushed a faint pink from embarrassment.

Oh. I must still be using my feature changing Alice. I turned my hair, skin, and eyes back to normal and asked, "Better?"

"Yeah," He scoffed, rolling his eyes, "just perfect. Oh, except for the black wings, flames, star and cross. And the eyes. You _can't_ forget the red eyes." he said casually.

"Now that you mention it..." I murmured. I then spread out my winds to their full length, stretching them out and shifting the feathers around, knocking over the IV drip in the process. "Oops."

"You don't really need it any ways." He said, yanking the annoying needle out of my arm.

I was about to lean over and give him a hug, when I remembered the eye comment.

"Wait! My eye's are still red?!" I shouted. "I made them hazel didn't I?"

I then jumped out of my bed, ignoring the pain and Onii-sama's protests, and ran off to find a mirror.

--------------

After the group effort of 12 nurses and Onii-sama, I was dragged away from the mirror in the lobby and back to my bed.

"No matter what I do, they're always red!" I whined. "The flames won't go away either! I don't mind the wings though."

I told you." Onii-sama said with a sigh, "They are permanent. We don't know why, but it's impossible to remove or cover up the physical markings from the bond. Even if the caster died."

"How do I go to school?" I asked him in a calmer voice.

"I don't know...We'll figure it out."

---------------

(15 minutes later)

"By the way, where's Natsume?" I asked curiously.

Onii-sama choked on the water he was drinking and began coughing loudly. I looked at him with bored eyes.

"You're just _now_ thinking of him?" he asked incredulously.

"Yup." I replied, popping the "P".

*sigh* "He's in the room across from yours, sleeping. He over used his Alice when he killed Hana and exploded the _Kuro Aisu_ building."

"He's asleep?"

"Yeah."

I sighed and collapsed back on my bed, pulling the covers over my head.

"SO bored...!" I cried from underneath the white sheets.

**And.... FINISHED! (with the chapter) I need to start updating before 8:30.... -_-'**

**REVEIW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Onegai! X3**


	21. Chapter 19

**As you all probably know, school is back. So I will only be able to update 1-2 a week. Sorry! T-T**

**Disclaimer: Not mine! =P**

**Chapter 19**

**Mikan POV**

"And stay out." Onii-sama ordered, dropping me out side and slamming the door. I was now locked out of the hospital and forced to take my complaints of boredom else where. Apperantly I have been whining like a 2-year-old aver since I woke up at at 7:45 this morning. It's now 1:30.

I was now wondering around the grounds, unsure of what to do, and totally bored. I couldn't annoy Natsume because he was asleep. I couldn't go to Hotaru because I had freaking wings... and a tattoo... and red eyes.

*sigh*

I eventually surrendered to the boredom and sat-down under a random tree. Folding my large wings around me, I created a curtain of black and was enveloped in complete darkness.

-----------------

I woke up feeling refreshed and unusually warm. Confused, I folded my wings back in and looked around to see that, not only would the sun be setting soon, but and a large wolf with soft dark brown fur was sleeping beside me.

My eyes widened. "Daichi?" I asked unsurely.

The wolf lazily opened one large eyes and gave me a "who-else-stupid?" kind of look.

I rolled my eyes and flicked him on the nose. Curious as to why he was here, I quickly read his mind.

_'Oh.'_

"Onii-sama wanted you." I said. It was supposed to be a question, but it came out as more of a statement. He nodded his head once and stood up. He stretched and yawned, showing all of his razor sharp teeth.

"Turn back into a person already." I ordered him. He gave me an annoyed glance, but followed my instructions and changed into his normal gorgeous self. He was standing in front of my now, much taller than I, wearing a GA uniform. I studied him, he studied me. "You're enrolled here." I said stated.

It wasn't a question, but he answered any ways, "Yeah. Some weird blonde guy did it. Grade 9, class B. That's with you, right?"

I sighed and looked away from his electric blue eyes. "That was Narumi." I began, thinking of the overly hyper man, "You would be in my class," I began, emphasizing the 'would', "But I'm not Shinda, I'm Mikan, and I can't go to class like this. I can't go to school anymore since these markings can't be removed."

"Why not just enter as someone else?" he suggested in a bore voice.

My eyes widened at the idea.

"Huh?" I asked stupidly.

"Enroll as Shinda if you can't as 'Mikan'. That way you can go. Make up a story about how 'Mikan' died or something, and you can be a new student found in the AAO or some other place. Just change you're physical appearance." He explained casually.

I resisted the urge to smack myself in the head. It was so simple! I could say that I lost my Alice and was sent back home. A little while later, I could enroll as Shinda Tsubasa.

So much for being smart.

"Why didn't I think of that?" I wondered aloud.

Daichi chuckled and smirked. "Just because you're pretty, it doesn't mean you're smart."

"Shut up you stupid mutt." I hissed.

Daichi just chuckled again, and then he was almost hit by a ball of fire. A very familiar fire. Daichi had jumped back just in time.

I sighed. "Come out kitten." I murmured quietly. My voice was barely audible, but I knew he could hear me. Sure enough, Natsume jumped out of a near by tree and landed on his feet with a soft thud. He then looked up, and glaring at Daichi, and walked over to me.

"This is mine." He declared, wrapping his arms around me. Daichi glared at him and snorted.

"You know?" I asked in a slightly surprised voice, low enough for only him to hear.

"You called me kitten." He replied, surprisingly flashing me a short smile and a wink.

Annoyed about the fact that he could not hear our conversation, Daichi scoffed and asked, "What makes you think that she's yours? You're not good enough for someone like her."

Natsume's eyes narrowed and he tightened his arms around me.

"I'm no ones." I declared, snapping my wings open and forcing Natsume to release his hold on me. I then stepped between the two of them before they started killing each other. "Behave." I ordered.

They both "Hmph'ed" in union and turned their heads away from each other, each glaring of in a separate direction. I rolled my eyes. _'Men.'_

Too lazy to deal with two boys who were fighting over me and trying to appear superior to the other, I walked away, using my water Alice to dump ice cold water on the two's heads. The sun had just started setting and I grinned in satisfaction as I heard the two shout:

"Mikan!"  
"Shinda!"

I teleported away before the two could counterattack.

------------------------------

**Natsume POV**

Mikan had teleported away before I could kill her for dumping water on me. Soaking wet, I turned back to the also soaking wet guy who was stupid enough to talk to _my_ Mikan, and challenge me.

"Mutt." I hissed. He glared at me. "What are you doing here?"

"Heh. Your the one who brought me here, _kitty_." he said arrogantly. "Regretting it now?"

I continued glaring at him, he glared back.

_'Damn it!' _I seethed _'I hate people like him!'_

I felt a feather light tough, sweeping across my mind, and then a voice. _What? People like you? _I heard the voice in my head scoff.

"What the hell?" I asked aloud. Wolf-boy (I still don't know his name) gave me a strange look.

_Ha ha! _It laughed. _How stupid of you._

I narrowed my eyes and looked p to wolf-boy. "Quit it already." I snarled.

He quirked an eyebrow, this time looking at me like I was crazy. "Huh?"

"You know what I me-"

_Really Kitten? Still can't figure it out?_

"Mikan." I realized.

_Yup. It's called the Alice of telepathy. I stole it a while ago. Fun, huh? _She said cheerfully.

_'Tons.'_ I replied dryly.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing wolf-boy." I replied boredly. "Mikan's just being stupid."

_Hey! I'm not stupid._

_'Sure, sure...' _I thought, rolling my eyes.

"I have a name." Wolf-boy interrupted. "It's Daichi."

"Fine, Daichi." I said, sneering his name.

Mikan sighed, and said _I'm bored. Settle your stupid problems later. Clean up and meet me at the sakura tree, 9:45 sharp. If you're late, you're dead. _I felt the feather light touch leave my mind as she then cut the connection and I was left alone. I sighed and obeying her orders, walked away in the direction of my dorm, leaving an annoyed Daichi behind.

"Where are you going?" He called after me coolly.

I paused and glanced back at him, a full blown smirk on my face. "To meet up with Mikan of course, were going on a date." I said, emphasizing the word '_date'_. His eyes narrowed and we began the glaring contest again.

_Hurry up!_ Mikan ordered, having suddenly entered my mind again.

_'Coming, coming...'_

I began walking away again smiling with satisfaction as I heard a loud thud and cracking sound from where Daichi punched a tree. He growled in anger and annoyance.

_'Pfft. Loser.'_

_Hurry up!_

_'Yes ma'am.'_

**Chapter done! I feel so glad to have finally put something up. =D**

**You know, that little review button down there is screaming "Click me!!!!!!" So do it a favor and review. =D**


	22. Chapter 20

**UGH! Highschool is totally killing my imagination.... But I'm trying to make these good, so bear with me!**

**. . . the scenario that you are about to read may be cliche and predictable... I hope you like it anyways!**

**Disclaimer: *sighs* It's not mine**

**Natsume POV**

When I reached the sakura tree, I looked at the figure sitting there with amazed eyes.

Mikan was sitting on her branch, her back facing me and her head turned so I could see it partially and tilted up towards the sky. She was wearing her school uniform, but she had taken off the jacket and was just wearing her dress shirt, the ribbon off. Her red eyes, brighter than even mine, were staring up at the full moon boredly, her tattoos were glowing lightly and shimmering. Her wings were folded in and her hair was loose, spread over her shoulders and back, moving slightly with the wind.

She looked like an angel.

She turned to me, and looked down at me with irritated eyes. Scowling, she glowered at me and said, "That took a long time. Tch."

Or not.

"Hn." was my only response. I smirked with satisfaction as a vein popped in her forehead. I knew that she hated that.

"Get over here already!" she ordered angrily.

I hopped onto my branch and she turned to face me.

"What's up with your tattoos?" I asked her boredly. She looked away and shrugged.

"Full moon I guess." she answered simply.

We stared at each-other for a moment in complete silence. Her eyes were unusually serious and she looked annoyed and unsure.

Since when is the girl with the confidence and nerve to kick me in the shins unsure?

I resisted the urge to break the uncomfortable silence and waited for her to speak. A while later, she took a deep breath and sighed.

Wiping all emotion off her face, she went into business mode.

"I have something important to tell you."

_'Shit. What this time?'_ I wondered. I could tell that this was probably going to be bad. My eyes hardened and narrowed slightly with suspicion.

"Mikan Sakura is no longer an Alice, and she has to leave the Academy tomorrow. Status is effective immediately. From there, she disappears from existence until I can figure out a way to remove the wings and markings." she said coolly.

My eyes widened. "_What?!"_ I hissed angrily. "You're leaving?"

She nodded. "It was Onii-sama's idea." she said, still in business mode. "I can't go to school as Mikan the way I am now. It is to be announced by Narumi-sensei to the class first thing tomorrow morning. You are one of the few people allowed to carry this information so you are to keep this a secret. If I expect proper composure and absolute compliance with the rules. If you fail to obey, you will be severely punished. There is no leeway. Do you agree to comply, or shall I remove all memories of Hell's Angel?"

I stared at her with wide, angry eyes.

"You would seriously erase my memories if I don't agree? What the hell?!" I asked angrily. I was gripping the tree trunk as hard as i could. I could hear the bark snapping and cracking under my hand. Mikan tilted her head slightly and looked at me with bored eyes. She then grabbed my hand away from the trunk and looked into my eyes. Crimson met crimson and I calmed down slightly. Her eyes were slightly softer.

"If they order me to, I must do so. So agree, Natsume." she told me morosely. I nodded. She smiled slightly.

She then released my hand and snapped back into buisness mode. "I must be going now." she said coolly. She stood on her feet and jumped off the branch, snapping her wings open, and with a few powerful strokes, rose into the sky and away from me.

I sighed with annoyance and leaned against the tree trunk, looking up at the full moon.

_'Damn it!'_

--------------------------------------

"What's wrong with you?" a stoic voice questioned.

I looked up to see Hotaru Imai looking down at me with cold eyes_. "Where is she?"_ Her eyes demanded.

"You'll see soon." I muttered. She nodded curtly and walked away.

"Ohaio..." an unusually calm voice said. The gay lord, Narumi, walked in. He was quiet and dressed normally. The entire class went silent immediately. I knew why he was sad. "We have both some good and some bad news today, class."

I looked out the window.

"Mikan Sakura will no longer be attending Gakuen Alice." he announced. I heard the class break out into a roar of gasps and murmurs. I saw Imai stiffen out of the corner of my eye. Ruka gasped and clenched his hands into fists. "She has lost her Alice and was sent home early this morning. She is not allowed to make any contact with you, and you none with her."

The class was completely silent.

Narumi, though with visible effort, put on a happier expression and announced, "But the good news is that we have 2 new students!"

_'What?'_

The murmurs once again began.

"Shinda, come on in!"

------------------------

**Normal POV**

The door slid open and in walked a beautiful girl with long, dark brown hair, and crimson eyes. Her skin was pale and there were strange black markings that resembled flames that covered part of her face. Most shocking of all was the midnight black wings on her back.

The whole class started murmuring and talking. There were many gasps and questions being thrown at the girl.

She looked over to Natsume with a smirk.

_Surprised?_ She asked him happily, using the alice of telepathy.

_What the hell?! I thought that you were leaving. You said Mikan Sakura was gone. _He asked angrily.

She shrugged. _Mikan Sakura may be gone, but no one ever said that Shinda was._

She broke the connection and turned to face the rest of the class with a bored expression on her face.

"Class, this is Shinda Tsubasa! She is your new classmate." Narumi-sensei introduced happily.

Mikan graced the class with a small, beautiful smile and said, "Nice to meet you all." She then went back to being bored and looked out of one of the windows.

Narumi went over everything about her, from her special star ranking to her class. Mikan ignored it all until he got to announcing her partner.

"Shinda-san, you will be paired with Ko-"

"NO." she rejected before he could finish. She lifted her arm up and pointed at the fire alice. "That one." she declared. "He will be my partner." She then walked down the aisle and sat next to Natsume on the opposite side of where Ruka was, ignoring Narumi and the Natsume-Ruka fan club's protests.

"Err... umm... okay then." Narumi agreed unsurley. "Our second addition to this class is Daichi Okanizawa. You may come in."

So in walked Daichi, the should be model, in all of his hotness and glory. He stared at the entire class with his unnatural electric blue eyes. The girls all swooned over him and you could already tell that a new fan-club had been born.

Too impatient for Narumi to tell them, Daichi declared, "3 star, dangerous abilities. Shinda will be my partner."

"Hee hee..." Narumi chuckled nervously, "Umm... free period because of the new kids!" he then walked out of the room and left the class alone.

Daichi confidently walked down the aisle and pushed one kid off of his chair so he could sit next to Mikan. Natsume and him started a glare-down, Mikan in the middle of it all.

"Mine." he declared, grabbing one of Mikan's arms.

"No, mine." countered Natsume, wrapping one arm around her waist and glaring at him.

The class watched the argument like it was a soap opera, the girls glowering at Mikan and the guys at Daichi and Natsume.

Natsume lit a fireball. Daichi raised a fist.

Mikan rolled her eys and snapped open her wings, forcing the two to let go of her. They jumped back and continued the glaring contest.

She hopped up on top of the desk and looked down at the two with superior eyes.

"I am no-ones. Quit. Now." she ordered the two.

"_Hn._" The two muttered.

They turned away from each other in submission, but not with out a last word from Daichi, "Mine." he whispered. Mikan whacked him on the head and Natsume smirked.

This was going to be a long year....

**Was this boring? Cliche maybe? I know that a few of you didn't want Mikan to go in a someone else, but I'll fix her! (i think =X) =D**

**REVEIW! onegai!**


	23. Chapter 21

**Tada! next chapter is here! =3**

**Umm.... I felt the need to post this because some people are being way too pushy about the chapter updates, so... yeah... -_-'  
Just to remind you all, I am a high-school student in 9th grade that is taking all honors and AP courses (that includes art) and 2 college level courses. Other than that, I dance 14 hours per week and make my family dinner every night. I am also doing Beta work for someone else's story, so I edit and fix her chapter once a week as well. Posting even 1 chapter per week can be hard because I have so much to do now, so stop being so pushy! I am trying to do my best, so if updates are late, or I miss a week, or I don't add at-least 1 new chapter to any of my 3 stories: deal with it. K? I'm not trying to be rude, just saying.**

**When Natsume and Daichi say something simotaniously, it will be in **_"Italics"_

**Chapter 21**

**Mikan POV**

It has been 2 weeks since I was entered into GA as Shinda Tsubasa and a routine had already been set, fan-clubs already made.

Hotaru has gotten colder since I left and Shinda has a lot of enemies as well as fans. Life now is really different from before, but it's fun in general! Well, except for a few minor details....

----------

"Shinda-sama!" A group of boys cried as I walked down the hall ways.

"I love you!" "Marry me!" "Shinda-sama is amazing!" the mixture of compliments and confessions rained down upon me. I growled with agitation.

Now I know how Natsume feels. Poor, poor Natsume...

I ignored them and continued walking on until I reached my first period. Sliding the door open, I smoothly stepped into the room and went to my desk to sit by my two idiotic seat-mates and partners; Natsume and Daichi. I slid the chair back and sat down, looking to my right first.

Natsume was lying there, arms crossed, eyes closed, and sleeping on his desk, resting his head on his arms.

I snorted and looked to my left.

Daichi was sitting next to me with perfect posture and a blank expression. He was looking away from me, down at a book that he was reading.

"Now why can't Natsume just act like him?" I muttered darkly, flicking the sleeping boy irritatedly.

I turned back to Daichi and stared at him, waiting for him to notice me. He did within a matter of seconds. He set the book down and turned to me, a boyish grin on his face- and that was another thing about Daichi. He actually knew how to use other emotions than anger and annoyance! Daichi's natural character is very Natsume-like, but with just a little bit of a bigger ego (who knew that it was possible? someone with a bigger ego than Natsume? What _is_ this world coming to?) and a nicer character. I cocked my head to one side, studying the boy before me. He looked back at me with a curious face, his blue eyes staring intently.

An arm grabbed my shoulder and then the blue was replaced with red.

I was now facing Natsume, who had apparently just woken up.

"What?" I asked him annoyedly. He grunted and turned away. "Mine." he muttered, glaring at Daichi. I resisted the urge to smack him.

_'Well, at least Daichi isn't so immature to-'_

"Mine!" I heard him mutter back sharply.

_'Or not.'_

I sighed deeply, trying not to explode when class hadn't even started yet. Knowing there was no chance in hell for Natsume to listen to me I turned to my left and quickly shocked Daichi's arm, sending him a warning glare to not start anything up. He snorted and rolled his eyes, giving me a reluctant nod in agreement. I turned once again, this time to my right, and looked past the stoic Natsume and over at Ruka. His eyebrows were scrunched up together with worry and counfusion- probably over the new fight. He couldn't understand why Natsume was fighting over me with Daichi.

#1 Natsume doesn't really like anyone

#2 Shinda just got here

#3 Natsume is supposed to like Mikan

I think that #'s 2 and 3 were bothering him the most, but then again, it was bothering everyone at this school. It started out with something simple and developed into something hugely complicated! Fo a simple explanation:

Mikan was supposed to be the one he liked, not me. But I am Mikan. So... yeah.... Some people don't like me because they think I'm stealing Natsume from Mikan and I'm her, but I can't tell anyone, so people are hating me for stealing the man I stupidly fell for from myself. So because of that, I am not friends with a lot of the people who I normally am friends with because they hate Shinda who is actually Mikan who is me. And on top that, some of them even try to prank me (it doesn't work though) so that they can defend Mikan and her relationship with Natsume, swearing that if I got too close they'd kill me all for the sake of their good friend who is me but they don't actually realize it because I am not permitted to tell them, so they are threatening me, their good friend who they think is their enemy, for myself. Complicated much?

I sighed and slumped in my chair, only to stand up almost instantly and slice the back off of the chair. It fell with a clatter, and satisfied, I sat back down.

Natsume looked over at me with a look that was asking _"What the hell?"_

"What? My wings were uncomfortable." I snickered as her rolled his eyes.

Narumi came skipping in while wearing an unusually frilly pink blouse- yes, I said blouse- and wearing bell bottom jeans with pink sequence heart sown around the bottom.

Natsume and Daichi rolled their eyes and snorted simotaniously at Narumi's outrageous look. They glared at each-other.

"Copy cat." Daichi hissed.

"Hn." Was Natsume's simple retort.

I was once again caught in the middle of their stupid man fight and I sent them both a warning glare.

_"Tch."_

I rolled my eyes.

----------------------

It was nearing the end of the day and it was a free period. I sat in my chair, Daichi and Natsume sitting on either side of me.

"Hey!" an annoying voice called. I looked over to see Permy in all of her green haired glory, scowling down at me. "Though have tolerated you up until now, I have had enough! Get away from Natsume-sama and Daichi-sama this instant! As president of the Natsume/Ruka/Daichi fan club, I have automatic rights and dibs on them! So you are not allowed to-"

CRASH!

Permy now lay face down on the ground, a nasty bump growing on her forehead. Chuckling darkly, I stood up and walked over to her; smirking as she sat up and glared a me. My voice was ice as I threatened, "If you dare order me around you will die."

Permy shuddered and instead of meeting my eyes looked away. "Demon!" She hissed.

My eye twitched.

"What was that?" my voice was deadly calm, the tension in the air rose and Permy stiffened in fear.

Shaking it off she said once agin, "Demon!"

I growled in anger and lunged at her, ready to teach her a lesson. Permy crossed her arms in front of her face in a pathetic attempt of protection and I grinned, raising my fist. I threw my arm forward straight at her. I was about to make hit her when there was a small buzzing sound and a barrier spread out between my fist and Permy. My fist hit the wall, a crackling sound emanated from where I made impact. I drew back and turned to the person who produced the barrier: Hotaru Imai "Ice Queen".

"Invention #3490: absolute barrier. Can block most anything and is impossible to destroy."

There she stood; glaring at me angrily and holding an odd looking machine with various switches and buttons. I looked back at her with cool eyes, my face void of expression.

"Imai." I aknowlaged.

"Shinda." she replied.

"Why did you interfere?"

"You cannot hurt my friends." I quirked an eyebrow as she continued on. "Just because you're the new girl, and you have power, don't think that we can't stop you and that you can just hurt people. You're not as amazing as you think." I chuckled and she narrowed her eyes. "You're beautiful, I'll admit it. You have brains strength and you have even managed to capture the interest of Natsume Hyuuga. But don't get a big head. He belongs to Mikan- not you. Leave unless you want to fight me."

If it weren't for the years of training, I would have burst out laughing at the irony of the situation.

"Whatever Imai." I drawled. I sent a look to Natsume and Daichi who were watching the fight boredly as I said the next words. "I have better things to do anyways and I don't really care about what you say. If you really care that much, I'll leave Permy here alone. She's not worth the energy anyways." Permy cried in protest at my insult as I walked to a window and opened it.

Turning to face Hotaru, I glared.

"Oh and Imai? Don't underestimate me. I have much more power than you think." with that, her barrier shattered and the machine creating it broke down and started smoking. Hotaru's eyes were wide as she looked from me to her invention. I laughed and climbed onto the windowsill and jumped off- snapping my midnight wings out and flying away from her. I laughed as the entire class ran up to the windows, seeing me fly for the first time- their expression a mixture of awe, jealousy, and anger as I flew away. Natsume and Daichi jumped out of the windows and followed me shortly after.

I smiled and with a few more powerful stokes with my wings, sped up and flew away.

**WOW. That was... IDK! Well, this chapter is done! XD REVIEW!!!!!!!!! (please!)**


	24. Chapter 22

**Well, the next chapter is here! XD**

**Some of you have been asking why Hotaru didn't recognize Mikan immediately despite the wings and all and why Mikan didn't just tell Hotaru that she was Shinda... To the second one (yeah it's out of order. deal.): Mikan isn't allowed to _tell_**** because it's one of those "top secret" sort of things. She's trying to hide her identity from the AAO, so by _telling_**** anyone other than those who are DA or higher-ups (and not all DA know either) it could risk Mikan's identity being discover as Shinda and Hell's Angel. So she can't _tell_ anyone. (I'm emphasizing the _tell_ for a reason) ****As for the first? Well, funny story about that one... *Grin* you'll have to read this chapter and find out!**

**Incase you are wondering, Mikan's alias is still Hell's Angel, not Shinda Tsubasa.**

**Important note at the bottom! Don't skip because it has to do with the course of events for future chapters.**

**Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish it wasn't true, I do not own Gakuen Alice or any of it's awesome characters except for Daichi and my Mikan OOC'ness. =D**

**Chapter 22**

**Mikan POV**

I was sitting in front of my mirror once again trying to make my eyes turn hazel, but succeeded in nothing more than a flash that lasted no longer than 2 seconds like always. But it had been enough. It just long enough to let _her_ know.

-----------------

It was the morning after Hotaru and I's little, err... argument, and I was receiving more glares than usual from my x-friends and the Natsume/Ruka/Daichi fan-club members. I listened silently as I walked down the halls, to the class room, and to my seat as endless rude comments were made.

"What a freak." I heard some whisper.

"Did you _see_ what she did to Perm- I mean Sumeri?"

"What the hell is wrong with her?"

"What an narcissist!"

"She's so pretty!" -well. Maybe not that one, but you get the gist.

I ignored them all and walked calmly to my seat, only to find Natsume absent and Daichi sitting in is seat. He smiled largely at my arrival.

"Shinda!" he exclaimed happily. "Guess what? No Hyuuga today! He's on an extended mission, so he's not gonna be back until late tonight or tomorrow."

_'Onii-sama did say something about that...'_ I thought with a frown. I sat in my seat with the sliced off back and flicked Daichi on the forehead like I always did when he was being annoying.

"Don't get so excited and get out of his seat. He'll kill you if he learns that you sat there." I told him dryly.

And this is where he's so much like Natsume that it's scary- "Tch. Whatever Shinda. There's no way that stupid hot head could even touch me." Daichi had a smirk on his face and his voice was so carefree and confident- so Natsume like- that I had to remind myself that I was talking to Daichi and not him.

Composing myself, I retorted smoothly, "The Kitten is much more skilled than you think. He's on par with you for sure and quite possibly stronger, though I don't know yet for sure. He also has the potential to get even stronger than he is now- if he could just learn to keep his temper and actually be mature for once." I muttered the last part before sighing and narrowing my eyes and looking straight at Daichi. "But you could be very strong too if you'd stop being so immature and fighting with Natsume."

"Hn." was his only reply as I rolled my eyes once again at their uncanny similarity.

Daichi ended up staying in Natsume's seat class despite my warnings and I sighed deeply.

---------------

**Normal POV**

She was watching her- examining every single detail, investigating every movement- trying to piece together the mystery behind the sudden change.

Who is it? Hotaru Imai.

The genius inventor was sitting at her desk, staring intently at the girl known as "Shinda Tsubasa". But Hotaru knew better than that. Hotaru was smarter than Natsume- smarter than even most high school students- and she had pieced it all together in a matter of days. 2 to be precise.

Shinda was Mikan. Mikan was Shinda.

It was so obvious, she didn't know why it took so long for Natsume to figure it out! But then again, when Shinda/Mikan purposefully creates a momentary flash from the blood red eyes to the familiar hazel that she had grown to know and love more than once for only her eyes to see, anyone could do it.

Maybe she wasn't as smart as she thought?

Impossible.

But even without that, there were small bits and pieces here and there that were so obviously Mikan. All it took was the correct assembly and it was a perfect match.

_'Where the hell did the wings come from though? And since when could she be mean? Or lie for that matter?' _she thought dryly, thinking back to the end of yesterdays fake fight as she had flown away.

Yes. It was fake. When Permy stepped up and provoked "Shinda" and she responded the way she did, Hotaru knew it was for more cover and she would of course assist in helping her best friend. The Mikan she new would never hurt a friend with out reason- act or not- so she had to have been staging something. Now if she could just figure out why she was doing this... but it was impossible for her to approach Mikan right now. She knew that if she did and it was discovered by others than Mikan that something bad would happen. She just and to sit back and watch for now. The truth would come out soon enough.

She pulled out a camera.

And when it did, she would have some great shots and make millions. Hotaru chuckled evilly.

-----------

**Mikan POV**

I looked over to Hotaru who was watching me and had an evil smirk on her face. She was chuckling evilly with a camera in her hand. Everyone was backing away from the ice queen nervously. Ruka shot me a look of sympathy.

_'Oh kami-sama...'_ I thought nervously, _'I think that I've just become her new target for black mailing!'_

"-da. Shinda!"

"Whoa what?" I asked surprisedly, snapping out of my thoughts.

Daichi looked at me and rolled his eyes. "I said, do you want to go to Central Town with me after classes today? I want to do something and I'm really bored."

"Why not go tomorrow? It's saturday and we could find a bigger group." I said smartly.

"Yeah but Natsume is going to be back tomorrow and I wanted to spend the day with you. He's not gonna let me. Plus, friday nights are the best!" he said with a smile. "Please?"

I sighed and reluctantly agreed, knowing that what he said was true. Natsume was too... Natsume-ish to let me go anywhere alone with a guy who isn't him. Big ego.

"Sure, sure... as long as we can stop by the fluff puff stand." I said.

Daichi quirked an eyebrow. "Pfft! You like fluff puffs? Miss tough-and-serious? Wow..." he was barley containing laughter at the thought and I scowled at him and flicked him on the head.

"Sorry, sorry." He muttered with a grin.

"But instead of waiting, we're leaving now. Jinno is first and you know how much I hate the guy. Let's go." I declared.

"Leaving before class even begins? Awesome."

We jumped out of an open window as we always did, me snapping out my wings and taking flight, Daichi turning into a large wolf and running below me. We headed to Central Town.

----------

**Okay! Next chapter is at Central town! =D**

**Okay, after learning that there are a surprising amount of Daichi fans: Who do you want Mikan to end up with? The amazing Natsume? The hot Daichi? The guy with the most votes will end up with Mikan.  
And hows about them character deaths? If they make everything more awesomeness and exciting, do you mind? It may end up helping to put Mikan and ? together officially (idk for sure yet) or it may just be there for more drama. Yes? no?  
If you happen to change your mind from this to the next chapter but you've already placed your vote, just tell me to disregard your last choice and tell me your new one. You can tell me your answers now or wait till the next chapter, but I absolutely need your opinion by then. Thanks! =D**

**REVIEW!!!!!! =O**


	25. Chapter 23

**Here 23! =D**

**Well, here it is! I really liked this chapter. It was fun to write =3**

**This is the last chance that you have to place your votes! Choose well!**

**Chapter 23**

**Mikan POV**

"Ha ha! Mou! Daichi, stop it!" I said in between laughs. We had been at Central Town for quite a few hours now and it was 12:34 in the afternoon. The sun was high in the sky and I had been complaining about the heat, so Daichi and I had sat under a tree behind one of the shops where no one was to rest for a while, when he suddenly turned into his giant wolf form and started chasing my around with a water hose in his mouth that he had found left on at the flower shop and dragged over here. Even though he was a huge dog right now, I could that he was smiling as he once again sprayed me with that cold water.

"Okay. Pay back time!" I declared. Using my water Alice I began forming a giant orb of water and aimed in directly at the big furry Daichi. His eyes widened and he dropped the hose, running away from me at full speed. I laughed evilly. "So not gonna work."

I threw it at him, hitting Daichi perfectly and soaking him head to foot- or paw I guess.

We continued messing around with the water for another 20 minutes until we sensed someone coming towards us and we turned to see the flower shop owner coming towards us.

"What the hell are you doing?!" he asked us angrily.

"Uh oh." I muttered. Laughing a snapped open my wings (which by the way were soaked) and flew off with Daichi running along with me as far away from the angry man as possible.

We were panting and laughing when we landed on the opposite side of Central Town and underneath a tree, still soaking wet. I dried myself instantly with the water Alice but Daichi shook his fur and sprayed water all over me again.

"Eww! Daichi, gross." I complained, once again drying myself.

He turned back into a human and smirked. "You deserved it. And you had fun too. I've never seen you smile like that. Or laugh for that matter." he added.

Huh?

I thought back to the water fight and the day so far and he was right, I had laughed. I hadn't had that much fun since that day at the training field with the kitten. Daichi smiled as a look of realization passed over my face.

"Nice to know that you have the ability to have fun like that." he said with a smirk.

I snorted and flicked him on the head again.

"You're not half bad Daichi. Come on. I still haven't gotten my fluff puffs yet." I said with a small smile.

--------------

**Daichi POV**

Watching Mikan eat fluff puffs was a very entertaining experience. The look that she got on her face when she bought and ate the candy was priceless! Not to mention the heart broken expression when she finished them all.

I snickered and watched her with a smile as she popped another piece of the fluffy candy into her mouth with a big smile, her shiny dark brown hair swaying and shining as she ate. As she picked up the next one and brought it to her mouth, I snatched it out of her hand and ate it before she could, earning me a scowl from her. She glared at me with her big red eyes and I smirked.

"Get your own box, mutt. These are mine. You take anymore and you die." She said annoyedly, flicking me on the forehead as always. I just grinned.

"But we're in public! Would you really?" I asked in mock horror, quirking an eyebrow. She gestured around us. Empty.

No one was here except for a few shop keepers and owners since class was still in session. She had made her point.

"Sure sure." I said in defeat.

2 minutes and 17 fluff puffs later, her box of candy was empty and she sighed.

"Well, what now?" she asked.

"Shopping!" I declared.

She snorted. "Are you a girl or something? What boy suggest shopping?"

"The hyperactive ones who are bored." I answered simply, glaring at her for the girl comment.

"You're like a puppy." She muttered, rolling her eyes.

With her being only 1 foot away, I obviously heard. "Part dog here." I said pointing to myself. "Plus I'm really happy to get to spend the day with you. It's really fun and I feel like I can relax and have fun with you." I told her truthfully.

"W-whatever." she stuttered, turning away from me. I smiled.

-------------------

**Mikan POV**

I couldn't help but stutter and blush lightly with embarrassment at comment. But I knew it was true- he always acted like a puppy with me. When ever he's around anyone else, he's Natsume's brown haired, blue eyed twin.

I walked to the next store with out making eye contact with him, making sure that I wouldn't stutter anymore. The place that we walked into was a jewelry shop and they had tons of things. Everything was sparkly or shiny and made out of expensive jewels and crystals. Everything was beautiful, but one thing in particular caught my eye; a gorgeous necklace with a white gold chain and a small rosy teardrop shaped crystal*.

"You like that?" a voice asked behind me.

I turned to see Daichi leaning over, also inspecting the little necklace.

"Yeah, I guess, but I don't have the money for it with me. It's 1,600 and I only have 957. And it's probably going to get sold soon too..." I muttered with obvious irritation. I then sighed. "Oh well. It's my fault so I'll just have to deal with it." I flashed him a small smile and he looked at me doubtfully. "Let's go somewhere else for now." I decided, dragging him out of the shop by the arm.

We proceeded to spend the rest of the day shopping and laughing and I ended up actually buying some things with my money, but the necklace always lingered in my mind. The shops were mostly empty until 4:40, so we had free reign until then, but then everything got crowded but we still had fun. By the end of the day I was exhausted.

It was dark outside and we were standing in front of my dorm room. I had already teleported the few things I bought inside of my dorm, and I was saying good night and was about to walk into my room, when Daichi stopped me and pulled out a small box. I took it hesitantly and opened the box to find the necklace I had been wanting inside there.

"Thank you Daichi." I said happily. I put it on quickly, smiling at the way it sparkled in the light. I then gave him a smile and a short hug and thanked him again.

"Your welcome. I had a great day with you. So think of it as a thank you gift."

I smiled.

"Good night Daichi. See you tomorrow." I shut the door and locked it smiling happily at the gift. I was sitting on my bed brushing through my hair when there was a rustling on my balcony. Suddenly on high alert, I teleported onto my balcony and pinned the person to the ground, only to find that Natsume was the intruder.

"I know I'm irresistible, but no reason to attack me." Natsume said looking up at me with a smirk.

Typical Natsume....

"You're way to full of yourself."I said in a cool voice with a snort, stepping off of him and helping him off of the floor.

He opened his mouth the make a comment, when he noticed something and his face turned dark.

"Where did you get that?" he asked pointing to the necklace.

"Daichi gave it to me." I said boredly. "We were at Central Town and I wanted it but didn't have the money. Got a problem?" I asked lifting one eyebrow and waiting for his answer.

"Hn." He turned away.

"Oh my kami-sama... you're jealous." I realized. I resisted the urge to smack myself. Natsume didn't answer. I made my voice softer but kept my face impassive as I said my next words. "It's just a necklace. Don't be so immature."

"I'm not." he hissed. I placed a hand on my hip and glared at him, not believing his words for even a moment.

_'How to put him in a good mood...?'_ I pondered, too lazy to deal with a jealous Natsume. Suddenly an idea popped into my head. I walked up to him, made him turn around, and gave him a peck on the cheek. He flushed instantly.

"Forgive me?" I asked.

"Fine." he muttered. I chuckled and then pushed him towards the balcony railing.

"Go home now. It's late and you should get some sleep." I ordered.

Nodding, Natsume hopped of the balcony and ran towards his room. When he disappeared from sighed, I lifted my hand towards my chest and touched the pink crystal on the necklace that Daichi had given me, smiling softly.

"Daichi..." I murmured as I remembered our day at central town.

I leaned against the balcony railing and looked up at the stars happily. Today had been a good day...

**Done! With the chapter at least... =D**

**Cast your votes and tell me what you think! This is your last chance! XD**

**Picture I found of necklace- ** file : / / / Users / heathervite / Pictures / 0000000000001 . jpg **(remove spaces between words and symbols)**

**REVEIW PLEASE! ;D**


	26. Chapter 24

**TADA! ... yeah... sorry that it took so long to update! (please don't kill me T-T). the Document manager broke, so I haven't been able to update.... =3**

**I put a new link at the bottom of this chapter, since apparently it didn't work last time! =O**

**Disclaimer: I think that I have forgotten to do this the past couple chapters... =/ Oh well! I don't own GA! =D**

**Chapter 24**

**Mikan POV**

It was the middle of class when I received a message summoning the three of us; Daichi, Natsume, and me. I Looked at Hotaru who gave me a knowing look, and flashed her a quick and small smile. I then snapped my fingers, gaining Narumi-sensei's attention, and gave him a look before standing up and leaving the classroom. Natsume and Daichi followed behind me.

"Persona called?" Daichi inquired in a bored voice.

I nodded simply and continued walking to the DA room. As I walked, the necklace that I had received from him the other night sparkled and swayed back and forth slightly with my steps. I felt an arm wrap around my waist after I had taken a few more steps, and throw me over a shoulder enexpectedly. Suprised, I flailed around, shifting my wings and trying to break free of the unexpected hold.

"What the hell?!" I asked scathingly. "Freaking let me down!"

I hit the back of my... umm... captive hard on the spine.

"OW! Damn it!" I heard a deep voice mutter. Natsume snickered

"Daichi! Let me down!" I ordered. I tried to snap open my wings, but he had them pinned down with one arm. He laughed in triumph. "Let. Me. Down."

"No way, Shinda." Daichi said teasingly.

"Natsume..." I growled, looking to the crimson eyed fire caster for help. He just stood there, enjoying my annoyance.

_'What the hell?'_ I wondered. _'Shouldn't he be trying to burn Daichi to death by now? Did they make some sort of truce without my knowing?'_

"Natsume?" my voice was confused now and I waited for a reaction from him. He just stood there and continued smirking.

I twisted my head up and asked, "What's wrong with him?" in an accusing voice.

Daichi turned his head an looked at me with a grin. "Well," he began mischievously, "I sort of placed him under a trance with the voice pheromone alice while you weren't looking. I got it from a fan girl."

I just stared at him. "Why?"

"Cause I thought that it'd be fun." He answered happily.

I continued staring. "Okay...." I muttered. "And you're carrying me, why?"

"Cause I wanted to, of course! I'll never get the chance to do this again, what with Natsume being here and all...." He trailed off, shrugging and laughing as I scowled.

Knowing that I wouldn't be escaping until we reached the DA room, I sighed and stopped struggling. I propped my elbows up against his back and rested my head in my palms.

"You'd better not fart." I warned.

Daichi merely laughed and continued walking, a stoic Natsume trailing behind.

-----------------------------------------

**Persona POV**

I was sitting in the darkness of the DA room, awaiting the arrival of imouto. When I felt three familiar presences approaching me room, I stood up smoothly and walked to the door, opening it and preparing to greet Mikan.

"Mika-" I began, but stopped short. "ah..."

Daichi was standing there, grinning madly with a pissed off Mikan slung over his shoulder. Natsume stood behind them with a glazed look in his eyes.

_'What the heck?'_

"Yo." Mikan greeted dryly, "Let me down, idiot." She said to Daichi, smacking him on the back of the head.

"Yes, your highness." He said mockingly, letting down the peeved girl.

She "Hmph"ed, and shook out her wings, muttering something about stupid mutts. She then looked up to me, her now red eyes glowing lightly.

"Onii-sama." She said sweetly. Mikan smiled and happily gave me a hug which I returned hesitantly.

"Mikan." I said to gain her attention. She looked up to me with confusion. "Natsume..."

"Ah!" She said with realization. Her smile turned to a frown and when she turned to Daichi. "Fix him." She ordered.

Daichi snorted and rolled his eyes, but nodded none the less. "Yes, yes." he turned to the dazed fire caster and I watched with interest. "_Return._" he commanded in a strong voice.

Natsume swayed and blinked rapidly, His eyes lost the weird glaze from before and he looked around. "What...?" his eye landed on Daichi. "Bastard!" he yelled. Natsume created a large glowing fire ball and started attacking Daichi who turned into his large wolf form and ran away.

BOOM!

The explosion shook the ground and Daichi yelped in suprise. Gritting her teeth, Mikan stomped over to them.

"Shut the fuck up and take your argument somewhere else, damn it! We have work to do!" She yelled at them angrily.

Both froze and walked towards her.

_'The conrol that she has over those two...' _I thought with amusement.

"It's good. Those two retards need to be trained after all." She hissed as a reply to my thoughts.

"So what was wrong with Natsume?" I asked, brushing off her previous comment.

"Voice Pheromone alice stone. Fan girls." She explained curtly. Natsume glared at the now human Daichi who smirked in reply. I rolled my eyes and nodded in understanding. "So, what's the mission?" she asked, immediately going into business mode."

I looked straight at her, my eyes serious. "The following will be a group mission. All three of you will go." They all nodded. "We have located a legendary Alice stone. There is only one of it in the entire world. It's called the Life Alice Stone. It can revive or kill anyone or anything instantly, but It takes part of your own Life when you use it. There are also other special properties to it."

She looked at me seriously. "And...?"

"It can remove the marks: you'll be normal again."

--------------------

I watched quietly as Mikan walked away with Natsume and Daichi walking beside her. I turned to my left and one of my students stepped out from behind a pillar. The black mask on his face gave a formidable appearance to him.

"Persona." He greeted.

"What did Serina say?" I asked quietly.

"They will be successful in the retrieval of the stone," I barley suppressed a sigh of relief, "but someone will be lost."

"Who?" I asked. My voice was calm and cool on the outside, but inside panic was growing in me.

He pointed down the hall at one of the three and my stomach twisted.

"You are dismissed." I said calmly.

"Yes, Persona." He said obediently. He disappeared in a wisp of black smoke.

I looked back at the three as they turned the corner; Mikan was flicking a laughing Daichi on the forehead and shoving a scowling Natsume away with one black wing when he tried to attack Daichi. I turned away and walked in to the DA room. My legs felt weak and I sat down hard in the leather chair. I suddenly felt sick as an image of _their_ face passed through my mind.

_'No.'_

**Wow. This chapter was kinda boring... Well, the next one will be better! And exiting! This one was just needed to get the plot moving (if you know what I mean) ^_^**

**Yeah.... I'm not telling you who will "be lost". You have to guess! Anyone know? =3**

**(BTW: Serina-sensei _is_**** the one who can see the future and stuff, right?)**

**Haha! See? I really am using your idea! (you know who you are) XD**

**Review please! That includes EVERYONE! Even those who don't have an account! I have anonymous reviews available, so click the button! **

**It doesn't look exactly like my original picture, but it's pretty close! Just imagine the chain as silver and the crystal a rosy/pink color. ^^ Well, here's the new link: http: // www . sjspace . co . uk / USERIMAGES / DSC00209 . JPG (remove the spaces)**


	27. Chapter 25

**Okay! So the next chapter is here and the votes are in! Enjoy! =D**

**And by the way, just because it _seems_ like she'll end up with one person, doesn't mean that she will. (she could. But it's not certain)**

**(There is a note at the bottom that you NEED to read)**

**Persona POV**

"There's nothing that we can do?" I asked Serina seriously.

She shook her head sadly. "No." She said. "No matter what you do, it's going to happen. They _will_ die."

I cursed and slammed my fist against the wall.

She looked at me for a moment. "Even if nothing can be done, go with them. You'll be of help in the long run. But stay hidden." she added. "You can't revile yourself until _then_."

I nodded.

"Okay."

Throwing the door open, I left the room to get ready.

---------------------

**Mikan POV**

It was 5:14 p.m. and I was heading out to my mission with Natsume and Daichi following behind me. I was wearing my typical mask with the sakura swirl pattern and mostly the same cloths (just warmer and more suited for freezing temperatures). The trees blurred past me and I flew and I couldn't help but feel sad that soon, I wouldn't have them anymore. I shook it off and continued flying.

"So where is this place anyways?" Daichi asked from behind me.

He was wearing a dark brown wolf mask and- much to my annoyance- his normal GA uniform. Beside him was a stoic Natsume who was wearing his usual black cat mask and GA uniform. He looked to me as, well wanting to know, and Daichi continued jumping from tree to tree; waiting for my answer. I stayed quiet for a while before answering.

"It's on Mount Fuji. There will be snow and ice there, which is why I told you to dress warm." I then turned to glare at them. "Which you obviously _didn't_ despite what I told you." Daichi muttered an apology and Natsume gave me his signature "Hn," in response. I sighed and turned my head away. "When we get to the bottom of the mountain, I'll teleport us to the top."

I frowned at the prospect of teleporting three people at once almost 4 kilometers at once. It would take a lot of energy- but it was the fastest was to get there...

Daichi nodded and we continued in silence until we reached the mountain.

--------------

**Persona POV**

I watched their progress from afar, anxiety growing in my stomach as they came nearer and nearer to the mountain. I wanted so bad to revile myself to them and warn imouto-chan about what was going to happen, but didn't. I chose to listen to Serina this time. I knew from experience to always listen to what she said- it always helped in the end.

But even though she was always right, I couldn't help but hope that this one time, her prediction would be incorrect.

_'Kami-sama...'_ I thought desperately. _'Please, don't let her vision come true.'_

**----------------------**

**Mikan POV**

"Wow...." Natsume muttered.

We were at the top of Mt. Fuji on its icy peak. It was 7:24 and still light out, but the sun would be setting soon. Everything around us was snow and we were currently sitting inside of a cave with a small Alice-made fire that I created as I conjured up some warm clothes for the two idiots- Natsume and Daichi- out of a mixture of sympathy and not wanting to hear their complaints with a stolen Alice before we started the mission. Mostly because of the complaints.

After making a warm jacket and gloves for both along with some boots, I sighed with exhaustion and shivered slightly from the cold. I could already feel the effects of using my Alice to get us here and making them clothes did not help one bit. I coughed quietly.

Daichi- who was already wearing his clothes- was laying next to the fire and snoring beside me.

"I'm gonna take a look around." Natsume muttered, pulling on the clothes that I had given him.

"Sure, sure." I said boredly. "Just be back here before dark."

When he left and his form disappeared, I leaned against the cave wall, staring into the golden flames. My necklace sparkled in the fires light. It was five minutes later that I noticed the fire begin to dim and I used my fire Alice to help it continue burning, only to feel a sharp pain in my chest and begin coughing again. I covered my mouth with my hand so I could try to muffle the racking coughing. When the coughing fit was over, I looked at my hand.

No blood.

That was good...

"Mikan." A voice to my right said. I turned to see an unmasked Diachi staring at me with worried eyes. "Are you okay?"

_'Shit! He woke up'_

I just shrugged and said nothing and then shivered once again.

_'Damn it!'_ I cursed. _'It's so friggin cold up here!'_

I was about to make my own personal fire to help keep me warm, when I suddenly felt something warm wrap around me. I looked up to see Daichi walking away- not wearing the jacket that I had made for him. That's when I realized that the warm thing was the jacket. He sat down on the other side of the cave and turned into a wolf. I blushed and couldn't help but smile.

"Baka." I muttered, pulling the jacket more around me.

---------------------

We were now hiding outside of the place that supposedly carried the life Alice stone. It was now dark outside and our only light was the full moon as we stared down at the large all white building that had guards posted at every entrance.

"The AAO, huh?" Natsume said beside me.

I nodded. "Yup."

"So...." Daichi began, waiting for directions. He was wearing his jacket again (much to my satisfaction) and making a snow man as we waited.

"When I say so," I began, "jump down there and I'll freeze time for the entire AAO building. I've been practicing with my Alice and I can keep it up longer- but 5 minutes max because the area is so large. During that time you need to kill every one and everything inside there. I'll take the outside and meet up with you later. The stone is in the center on the AAO."

The two nodded.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Yeah! Just a sec." Daichi said. He grabbed two pebbles that he found on the ground and stuck them on the snowman to make to eyes before giving me two thumbs up in an okay to begin.

I sighed and rolled my eyes at him with a small smile. I turned my attention back to the AAO.

"And.... GO!"

I froze time right as the two jumped down and ran into the building. I winced as I felt my energy slowly drain away. I took a deep breath and jumped down as well so that I could d my part. I sent a single spike of ice through each of my victims and was about to follow the two, when a stabbing pain shot through me and I began coughing once again.

_'I need to get moving!'_ I hissed at myself. _'There isn't much time left!'_

_I then took a deep breath and ran in after them._

_---------------_

_**Natsume POV**_

_huff. huff. huff._

My breathing was hard as I ran around from hall t hall- room to room, killing everyone in sight with my Alice just as Mikan had instructed.

1 minute left.

Daichi better have been doing a good job.....

I continued running, burning a guard here and there, until all of the sudden- time resumed. All of the men who I had previously killed fell to the ground and the live ones who I had yet to get to aimed their guns at me.

_'Shit.'_

I ran past them. dodging each bullet and killing them as I went. I continued fighting until I reached the center of the AAO and saw Daichi waiting for me there along with Mikan.

"Took you long enough, kitty cat." he said mockingly. "We've been waiting forever!"

"Shut up, mutt." I hissed.

He growled at me. I hissed back. We were both about to punch each-other in the face when Mikan stepped between us and pushed us apart.

"Stop it Natsume." She snapped.

I nodded and she turned to the mutt, and in a considerably kinder voice said, "Stop Daichi."

_'What the hell?! What's with the difference in tone?!' _I thought angrily.

I watched, fuming, as Daichi took off his mask, gave an apologetic smile, and nodded. She laughed softly, the sound light and musical.

_'Oh no.'_ I realized with horror. _'Don't tell me that she-'_

"Hell's Angel." A voice suddenly said from behind us. We all turned around to see Reo standing behind us, a arrogant smirk on his face. He turned to me. "And Kuro-neko too? Well isn't this fun?" he laughed. "I must admit: you all did a good job in defeating all of my guards here, but you obviously missed someone."

"Reo." Mikan hissed. Daichi was now in his wolf form and growled menacingly behind her. She pulled out her katana and pointed it at him.

"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you." he warned with a smirk.

"Give me one reason why?" she said in a cool voice.

He chuckled and puled out a pure white stone the size of his fist and grinned. "Because I have this." He said triumphantly.

The Life Alice Stone.

Mikan ran toward him and began to create a ball of electricity in her hand but then she stiffened and it disappeared. She dropped to the ground, coughing uncontrollably and unable to move. Daichi began to run towards her but was shot in the shoulder by a concealed gun that Reo had just pulled out.

"Suffering from Alice overuse, eh?" Reo shook his head and grinned, slipping the gun back into his coat. He then pointed the stone towards toward Mikan. It started glowing darkly and I realized what he was about to do.

_"The life alice stone cam either revive or kill anyone or anything instantly."_ Said Persona's voice in my head.

"Bye, bye." Reo whispered.

My eyes widened in horror, knowing that I was too far away to do anything as the dark glow enlarged and a black light shot from the stone, headed towards the girl I loved.

"NO!"

**And..... STOP! Yeah. It's a cliffhanger! ^_^**

**LOL I'm evil**

**REVIEW!!!!! (please?) =3**


	28. Chapter 26

**... Yeah. I don't want to bother you all with a bunch of words before the chapter since the last one was a cliffy, so go on and read! =D**

**Mikan POV**

I was breathing hard and still coughing from the effects of Alice over-use and I tried but failed to crawl away from the dark light that was speeding towards me. Natsume was too far away to do anything and I knew that I wouldn't get away on time. The light was about to make contact when-

"NO!" I heard a familiar voice shout.

Suddenly, a dark figure leapt forward, blocking me from the Life alice stones rays and getting hit in my place. Something that resembled black electricity engulfed it's body at contact and crackled loudly for a split second before stopping. I blinked in confusion, unsure of what had just happened. Natsume's face was frozen in horror as the figure slumped to the ground.

"No, damn it!" I heard Reo shout.

"What..?" I whispered confused.

I looked at the face of my savior and saw dark brown hair and electric blue eyes staring up at me.

Daichi.

He was breathing hard and his face was pained. I just stared and he forced out a small grin, blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth.

"D-Daichi?" I asked, horrified.

"Hey there, Mikan." he said shakily.

"Daichi?!" My voice was now almost a shriek now and I could see his breaths getting more shallow. He cringed.

"Mind toning it down a little?" he asked.

Tears began to gather in my eyes. "You idiot!" I shouted angrily. "W-what the hell were you thinking?" My voice was choking up now and I had to fight to keep the tears from falling.

I just sat there, shaking and unable to speak as he laid there, dying. Daichi raised up a hand to my cheek and smiled softly. I just stared at him.

"I was thinking," he said slowly, "'save Mikan.'" He chuckled and looked at my neck. "I see that you're still wearing the necklace that I gave to you. I'm... glad."

He then broke down, coughing violently and I could tell that he was going to die soon. I panicked. Placing my hands oh his chest, I began to use my healing Alice on him at full power, a soft green glow coming from my hands.

"Live." I whispered.

Blood began to come up with each cough.

"Live." I said in a stronger voice. The glowing became brighter.

His breaths were more labored and becoming more shallow. I could feel his heartbeat getting slower from underneath my hands and I could tell that he was fighting just to keep his eyes open.

"_Live!_" I said again more franticly.

I continued chanting the word, over and over again- continuously- endlessly- as though it would help. But of course in the end it didn't.

With the last of his strength, Daichi grabbed my wrist and jerked my hands away from him, stopping my voice and my Alice completely. He took a shaky breath in and in a barley audible voice, whispered, "_I love you_." and kissed me softly before his eyes closed completely.

His breathing stopped and my mind turned to chaos.

"Daichi...?" I asked uncertainly. My mind was still processing what had happened.

"Daichi?" I asked again. My voice was shaking and the tears began to fall.

He just laid there, a small smile frozen on his face.

"_Daichi!_" I screamed. "Please! Wake up! Wake. Up!"

He stayed completely still despite my pleas. My tears dripped all over his coat, creating dark splotches in the fabric.

"Get up!" I pleaded, shaking his body. I was faintly aware of the sound of feet nearing me. "Don't leave me!"

I continued crying and screaming until I heard a sharp laugh and looked up to see Reo Mouri standing above me.

"Ha ha!" he laughed. "Isn't this just wonderful?"

Hate began bubbling in my stomach as the man who murdered Daichi stood before me.

"Give him back." I whispered.

Reo just looked at me. "What?" he asked.

With great effort, I climbed to my feet and wiped my tears with the back of my hand. The anger was at it's peak. "Give him back!" I shouted, whipping out my arm and throwing him against the wall with a strong punch.

His body crumpled to the floor and his nose was bleeding. I walked over to him and pulled him up by the shirt collar and started punching him violently. I had been beating him to a pulp for about two minutes now and just as I was about to throw another punch, he caught it and grinned, blood trickling down his now-ruined face.

"Why are you so angry?" he asked. "Hell's Angel is suppossed to be emotionless and cruel." he then paused as a look of relization came over his face. "That is, unless..." he said slowly with wide eyes, "You loved him?"

I froze.

He laughed.

"I'm right, aren't I?" he asked joyously. "_The_ Hell's Angel fell for a stupid dog!" He continued laughing and I snapped.

I stabbed my hand through his stomach and withdrew it with a swift jerk. Red liquid covered my fingers and a fountain of blood began to pour from his mouth. The Life Alice stone fell to the floor with a clatter, but I ignored it.

My red eyes glowed with anger.

Natsume finally snapped out of his daze when he saw this. "Stop!" he shouted.

I ignored him and continued on, this time breaking his arms and legs with a sickening snapping and crunching sound. Reo screamed in pain and I smiled evilly.

_Kill him!_ a voice screamed in my head.

Natsume began running towards me.

_Do it now! _It said again.

I drew my hand back slowly.

_Yes!_ It cheered.

Aiming for the heart, I threw my hand forward, going for the kill, when a hand stopped me.

I turned my head to see Persona onii-sama standing there, one hand on my wrist with Natsume standing behind him.

"Let go." I hissed, not even bothering to question why he was here.

He didn't.

"I said; _let go!_" I jerked my wrist from his grasp and then continued to shoot my hand toward Reo's heart and kill him- or I tried to at least.

Strong arms grabbed me from behind and pressed my arms to my side in an iron grip. I screamed in frustration and tried to escape, but he was too strong.

The barley conscious Reo slid to the floor, blood pooling around him.

"Let me go!" I screamed. I tried to loosen the grip by opening my wings up, but they were pressed firmly to my back with no room to move.

"Natsume," I heard Onii-sama say, "Don't let go. No matter what." he turned to Reo. "Take her back to the academy."

Natsume grunted in affirmative and I screamed again- this time in anguish. The tears once again started falling as Natsume dragged me away from Reo, past Daichi's body, and back to the academy; ripping sobs escaping my throat the entire way home.

------------------------

**Persona POV**

I looked down at the pathetic form of Reo Mouri in disgust. Even now, in the face of death, he still had the gall to smirk and say, "She deserved it."

I just stared at him and brought my hand down to his neck. He blanched when I gripped it tightly.

"W-what are you doing?" he asked fearfully.

I merely smirked and replied, "Revenge."

Activating my Alice, black bruises began spreading all over his body. He died minutes later.

Retrieving the Life alice stone from the floor with one smooth movement, I tucked in my pocket and headed towards the lifeless body of Daichi. Picking up the body and slinging it over my shoulder so that I could take it back to the Academy for a proper funeral, I cursed silently, Serina's words echoing in my mind.

_"There is nothing that you can do. No matter what, they _will_ die."_

Is that really all that I could have done?

_**... Umm... TADA? Did that suck? ^^**_

_**Review?**_


	29. Chapter 27

**IDK if this was explained last chapter (and even if it had I was going to tell you all again), but the reason why Daichi can't be reveived by the Life Alice stone is because once killed by it, you can't be revived by it. You get hit: you're dead. ^^'**

**Okey dokey! Here's the next chapter! Enjoy! XD**

**Disclaimer: despite the fact that I have not put this on some of my past chapters, it's not mine! T-T**

**Mystery Person POV**

I watched with cold eyes as she was dragged out of the AAO's lair, crying uncontrollably over he death of her comrade- or was he more than a comrade to her?

The boy carrying her had his arms locked securely around the girl, his crimson eyes were hard and determined to get her home. I continued watching as he took her to the edge of the mountain and met up with another Alice user with the Alice of flight to quickly get them to the bottom of the mountain. I turned my head back to the entrance of the AAO.

Next to come out was the girls brother- Persona, was it? Anyways, he walked out, carrying the dead body of the boy with his face set into a grim expression. He too met up with an Alice who took him to the bottom and I briefly had to wonder why the girl hadn't done that instead of using teleportation so that she could save energy. After all, if she had, he might not have died.

When he disappeared I climbed out of my hiding place and walked through the white snow and into the destroyed lair of the AAO. The inside was littered with dead bodies that had been sliced, burnt, and torn apart. I ignored this though, and continued on, placing my hand on the walls as I passed and absorbing the memories through them as I passed and smirking. (A/N: He has the memory manipulation Alice. Like Kaoru-san! ^^)

_'So she stopped time, did she?'_ I wondered with amusement. _'She's quite strong....'_

Walking on until the large room where the _real_ action took place came in sight. Subtle excitement began growing in me and I greatly anticipated the memories and emotion that I would see and feel when I got there. I reached the entry way and took a step inside....

...and collapsed.

The rush of energy that came rushing towards me winded me and I sank to my knees, letting out a steady stream of curses as I quickly shut off my Alice and shakily stood back up.

The memories themselves were easy enough to handle, but the emotion? Not at all. There was so much confusion, hurt, rage, panic, hate, and blind fury that I felt like I was drowning. I could only imagine what it would have felt like if I had actually been there myself. I suppressed a shudder at the thought.

I walked over to the limp body of Reo Mouri, the fallen underling of mine that I had sent on the mission to retrieve the Life Alice stone. His body was blackened by the Curse Alice that that man, Persona, had inflicted upon him and his body was broken and bloodied by the girl. Mikan, as he had learned from the memories. I realized with little pity he had almost succeeded- but in the end he did not. I applauded his death. We didn't need failures.

My thoughts shifted back to Mikan and I turned on my heel and began walking out of the AAO.

"Mikan Sakura...." I murmured. "What kind of person are you?" I then smirked as I remembered her rage. "And just what kind of weapon could I create with all of those emotions trapped inside of you?"

-------------

-

**The night after**

-

**Normal POV**

Somewhere within the hospital wing, a well known brunet was tossing and turning in her bed.

"No..." she murmured.

_Daichi was hit by the black light._

"N-no...!" She said again more franticly. Mikan twisted in the bed, trapping herself in it's white sheets.

_"I love you." His heartbeat was growing weaker by the moment._

"Please no!" She whispered franticly. Mikan had a pained expression on her face as she turned again in her sleep.

_His breathing stopped._

"_Daichi!_" Mikan jerked awake with one hand raised towards the ceiling- reaching for something that wasn't there. She sat up and looked around her franticly: the room was dark and the only light was that of the moon whose light was streaming through the open window.

"Where am I?" she asked herself in a soft voice.

Mikan untangled herself from the bed sheets and climbed out of bed and onto the floor, only to find that her legs couldn't support her. She fell to the floor hard but didn't even wince as she hit the hard tile and bruised her shoulder and wing.

Her eyes became wider.

_'Wing?'_ Sure enough, Mikan's black wings were still there, and upon further inspection so was the bracelet of flame on her arm. But that's all it was- a bracelet. Gone were the tattoos that spread all up and down her arm and covered the majority of her body. And so were the crimson eyes. The Life Alice stone had worked, Mikan realized- only not all the way.

_'This is wonderful!'_ Mikan thought from the floor. _'I should go and tell Dai-!'_

And at that moment all of the memories from her mission came flooding back to her at full force once again and Mikan cried softly and brought her hand to her neck and placed her hand over the cold, rosy pink crystal on the necklace that Daichi had given to her.

"But I can't. He's gone." she whispered brokenly. "He's really gone..."

Mikan continued sobbing silently.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" a deep voice suddenly asked from above her.

Startled, Mikan looked up, only to see a pair of shoes in front of her. She continued raising her head, her eyes gliding along a long pair of legs, up to a well muscled chest and arms, and finally to a face that was hidden by dark shadows.

She sat up on her knees and nodded. "Yes." Mikan gushed. "So, so much.... It's like- It's like a hole was punched through my chest, and it won't go away." Mikan's hazel eyes became conflicted and she shifted her wings. "Why won't it go away..?"

The person bent down and lowered himself to the brunets level and wiped her tears away with his hand in one smooth movement. The moons light now reviled perfect features, a smirk, and cold, emerald green eyes.

"I can help."

**Cliff hanger! I think. IDK if that was one or not. O.O**

**You'll learn about why the marks haven't gone away yet in the next chapter (i think) ^^**

**GAH! I am now conflicted on wether I will be able to do the AE or not since I'm making the story longer than planned! DX  
Hmm...... I will try to do it though, but it depends on how many more chapters until the end. **

**_OMG101_****: Nye.... I sort of changed up the idea a little bit (okay. I'll admit it: I changed it a lot. But I did the first part! And the end should be similar to what you suggested.) I just got the idea of that green eyed dude (IDK what his name is yet) in my head randomly, and I just HAD to add it in! =O**

**LOL, anyways, REVIEW PLEASE!!!!!!!**

**If only for the kitty? =3**

** /\__/\  
(=^.^=) ~Nya! **


	30. Chapter 28

**Yo! Hello everyone! OMG! XD I'm SOOO glad to be back on FF! Ugh... not being able to write for over to moths is HELL. *sighs dramatically* LOL well, her ya go! Chapter 28 is here! =D**

*****I changed the note from the previous chapter, so you might want to go and look back on that*****

**Disclaimer: ehh.... Nope! But you'll know it's me Persona becomes Mikan's big brother and Mikan and Natsume get married! X3**

**Chapter 28**

**Mikan POV**

I woke up with a start and looked around my hospital room franticly. Morning light was now streaming though the windows and I guessed that it was still early.

"Wha-?" I wondered as I recalled the mysterious man from before. I was about to dismiss it all as some strange dream when I notice something on my left wrist. Made out of multiple beads strung together, was a bracelet made out of some strange - but expensive seeming — stone that was the same vibrant green as _his_ eyes. On the bedside table, was a small note, the words written out in neat handwriting...

_Mikan, _It read,_ meet me at the tallest tree in the northern forest at 7:00 a.m. today before school. You know the one. I will answer all of your questions there. I can take the pain away- you just have to trust me. ~Akihiko_

_P.S. Wear the bracelet._

_'Akihiko?_' I wondered. _'Is that his name?_'

I read the note over once more before turning my head to look at the glowing red numbers on the clock sitting on the bedside table where the note had been found.

6:35

"I'd better get ready," I announced out loud. I climbed out of the bed - more carefully than last time so that I would stand properly - and turned towards my window. I stuck my fingers under the edge of the window and jerked it fully open, climbed on the windowsill, and jumped. I snapped out my wings the moment I had enough room. I just so happened to be on the second floor so it was easy to start flying. Several strong strokes took me high above the building and I smiled, glad that my wings weren't gone. I wheeled to my right and began flying towards the girls' dormitories and my balcony. Even though my chest still hurt with the loss of _him_ flying was always fun.

---------

6:56

I was now standing under the tallest tree in the Northern Forest, just as he had instructed. I decided to just wear my hair down and I was dressed skinny jeans and a solid red tank top. Black ballet flats were on my feet and my various Alice control devices decorated my arms and fingers. Still on my wrist was the strange but beautiful bracelet, and around my neck... Daichi's necklace. The pinisk stone was ice cold against my pale skin.

My wings shifted as I waited for Akihiko. Precisely at 7:00, he arrived. In full light he was even more handsome then before - easily as much as Natsume and (I frowned as I thought his name) Daichi.

"Thinking of your dead boyfriend again, eh?" he inquired as he walked up to me.

I hissed. Tears burned in my eyes, but I refused to let any fall. His words grated against my raw heart and it hurt badly.

Akihiko chuckled and in a few more steps was right in front of me. "I'm sorry," he said silkily. "I didn't mean to upset you."

I turned my face away from his and looked down at the soft grass beneath my feet.

"You look beautiful." He complimented, changing the subject.

I said nothing in response and just continued staring. He took my chin in his hand and tilted my face up to meet him. I kept my eyes averted from his. "Look at me please?" he asked.

Against my better judgment, I complied at turned my sad hazel to his calm green. He gave me a small smile that didn't reach his eyes and I gave him a reluctant one in return.

"Thank you." He said and then stepped away from me. I didn't realize until just then how close he had really been to me. A barley noticeable pink colored my cheeks.

"You said you would answer my questions." I began.

He nodded.

"So then can you explain why my wings aren't gone? That alice stone was supposed to remove all of the markings, but the wings aren't gone..." I finished.

He smiled at me. "You didn't want them to go away though, did you?"

"No." I muttered.

"Then you have your answer," he said with a shrug. "The only reason why the marks can be removed by that stone is because you want them to be. It can't take what you want to keep."

That made sense in a way...

"And you also said you could help." I said quietly.

He nodded. "Of course. And I will."

Anticipation began building in me at his words. He seemed completely confident about this and I knew that he could help.

"The first step," he began, "Is to lose all of the emotion that you have now, and go back to how you used to be – before you entered the academy and met Daichi."

My eyes widened at this.

"What?" I asked stupidly. "I don't-" Akihiko silenced me with a stare.

"Think." he said. "Don't you realize how much you have changed? Before coming to this place you had never experienced pain like this; without your emotions you were doing so much better than now."

I couldn't say anything to his words and merely looked away.

"Can't deny it?" he asked. "Of course not. Tell me, Mikan, don't you want to erase all of the pain? Don't you want to be back as you were? As the perfect weapon that you were? You're one of the most feared people in the under world. You were perfect."

I opened my mouth to say something, but he continued on in his strong, smooth voice.

"With these new emotions like 'love' and 'sadness' you are only a shadow of your former self. Go back." he demanded. "Go back to being cold - to being cruel and not caring about another person in the world other than yourself."

The bracelet on my wrist began to glow a pale gold.

"I-" I began uncertainly. I stared into his green eyes and I knew he was right: I didn't need these emotions. I didn't want this burning pain any longer and I didn't need love. Daichi was gone.

_But what about Natsume? _Something inside me questioned.

My eyes widened.

_Didn't you love him too?_

I did.

_Don't you still?_

I don't know...

_You do._

"You don't." Akihiko said in his silky voice. His eyes were hard and I said nothing, wondering how he knew what I was thinking.

_You love him._

"You don't Mikan." Akihiko denied. "You were fine before him. Why do you need him now?"

_Don't listen to him._

I faltered and he noticed.

"Listen to _me_." he insisted.

_He's lying._

"I'm telling you the truth."

_Natsume has always helped you._

"He's pulling you down."

_And what about your friends? Think of them too._

"And just what have those 'friends' of yours done for you?"

_What of Hotaru? What of Persona?_

"You hate Hotaru. Persona is disposable."

_Do you really want to go back?_

"Do you want the pain to remain?"

_Time heals._

"Not all wounds heal."

_Don't listen._

"You need my help."

_You don't even know this man._

"Trust me." Akihiko said, extending his had towards me.

I stared directly into his bright green eyes and I really did want to trust him. My bracelet glowed more brightly than before, but I ignored it. Maybe it was because I was so tired. Maybe because I just didn't want the pain any longer. Or maybe, it was something completely different from that. All I know, is that I took five steps, reached out my hand to take his, and the moment our skin made contact, I felt at peace.

**DONE! (With the chapter.)**

***evil chuckle* a cliff hanger!!!! -dramatic music plays-**

**LOL so, please tell me what you think of the chapter! REVEIW PLEASE!!!! XD**


	31. Chapter 29

**Sorry about the super late update. My stupid computer friggin crashed T_T**

**Disclaimer: Uh........... No. No I don't own it. =P**

**Chapter 29**

**Mikan POV**

I grabbed Akihiko's strong hand, all hesitation gone. His cold eyes gleamed in triumph. The green bracelet of my left wrist flashed brighter and the next thing, the entire world was white.

I was standing on solid ground, all color was washed out from everything. The grass, the sky... I looked down at my own hand: paper white. Everything- all except for Akihiko's vibrant green eyes and the bracelet.

"Mikan," he began in his smooth voice, "you made the right choice."

I believed him.

"This bracelet," he said holding up my arm, "will take away all of those unwanted emotions. I would have done it already, but I needed your permission first."

"Of course..." I murmured.

He took one of the beads between his index-finger and thumb.

"I'm going to revert you back to when the most important thing to you was yourself." he said calmly. "It will wipe out all of the emotion except, but even so: don't remove this bracelet. EVER. I've made it so that it can't be taken off anyways, but just so that you know..."

I nodded slowly.

"Say good-bye to your emotions." he said with an evil grin. "You'll never have to deal with them again."

The moment the words left his lips, I felt as though cool water were rushing through me. It lasted all of 10 seconds before it was over and color rushed back to the world in a blur.

The world around me was spinning rapidly and I stumbled as I tried to keep upright. Akihiko grabbed me firmly by the shoulders to steady me.

I took a moment for the dizziness to go away before staring up at him.

He stared down at me with calm green eyes. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

I stared back with indifference. "Perfectly fine." I said, breaking out of his grip. "And don't touch me." I added with a snarl. He smirked.

------------------

**Akihiko POV**

I smirked.

She was perfect. My work was perfect.

I watched with satisfaction as she turned away from me and snapped out her midnight colored wings. As she flew through the sky and away from me I clearly saw power in her every movement. She had changed. She was no longer being weighed down by those useless emotions and was once again the sharp weapon that she had been created to be: cold emotionless, deadly.

A malicious smile stretched across my face. My eyes flashed. Oh, yes. I had made the right choice.

-----------------

**Normal POV**

The ESP looked down at the kneeling form in front of him, a grin on his face. Inside, he was overflowing with glee at the prospect of Mikan Sakura returning to the deadly weapon that she was.

His golden girl was back. Why wouldn't he be happy?

"I want you to go back to the academy as the happy, bubbly Mikan Sakura once again." he informed her. "Until further notice."

Mikan nodded and stood up from her kneeling position.

"Yes sir." she said coolly. "Anything else sir?"

His grin widened.

"Have Persona help you prepare to return. You will do so tomorrow after all..."

She nodded again.

"You're dismissed." The child principal said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

At his word Mikan disappeared, leaving a swirl of sakura petals behind her.

One of the pink flowers floated over to the ESP and he plucked it out of the air and examined it with mild interest.

"Welcome back, Hells Angel."

He then closed his fist and crushed the petal. Opening his hand he let it fall to the floor, crumpled and destroyed.

* * *

**Persona POV**

"Persona," a musical voice called from behind me.

I turned to see my imouto landing on the ground behind me. She folded her wings in and walked towards me.

"Ah, Mika-"

I stopped right there when I saw her eyes. They were cold and passive.

_'She hasn't looked like that since...'_

"Is there something wrong?" she asked, one eyebrow arched in question.

I closed my eyes for a moment before opening them once again.

"Nothing." I said. "What did you need?"

"I am going to re-enroll in Gakuen Alice as of tomorrow. I need you to help me get prepared again. ESP's orders."

Ah. So thats why she came for me...

"I'll have some people go send in your files again and get your class schedule. Your room is the same of course." I informed her.

She gave a curt nod before turning away and walking off. Before she could get too far, I placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay, Mikan?" I asked calmly, keeping my worry masked.

She jerked out of my grip and twisted around to send me a blood chilling glare.

"Of course." she hissed. "Now leave me alone and go get my things ready _Onii-sama_." she said, sneering the last part.

With that she turned on her heel and darted away from me and out of sight, leaving me to stand alone, open mouthed in surprise.

-------------

**Mikan POV**

"Tomorrow," I whispered to the wind as I ran, invisible with speed; dart, weaving, dodging the obstacles in my path. "Tomorrow everything will change."

And tomorrow indeed... Tomorrow I would go back to GA: restart my life. Never feel emotional pain again. I suppose that if my emotions still existed that I would be feeling anticipation or excitement maybe. But what did anticipation feel like? I didn't know. I wasn't even sure what sorrow was anymore. All I did know, was that it was a bad feeling, and earlier today, I was suffering because of it.

I had made the right choice by letting Akihiko help me.

_But what about Natsume? What about love? _My conscious questioned.

_'What about it?' _I retorted icily. _'Natsume is of no importance to me. And love? I know not of such an emotion.'_

I pushed the voice out of my mind before it could make any further comments. I knew my path. I knew what I wanted. Those useless feelings of mine had clouded my eyes. Now that they were gone, all was clear.

-------------

**(the next day)**

"Ohayo, Minna-san!" I greeted cheerfully from the front of the classroom. Narumi was standing beside me and had just announced my return, saying that my Alice had "magically" reappeared again.

Everyone stared at me, open mouthed before they all came rushing up to me to envelope me in hugs and cheerful greetings. Natsume and Hotaru stayed behind, looks of shock on their faces. What? Had they expected me to tell them of my return? Preposterous... I vaguely wondered when they would confront me, demanding answers. As the people came up I, of course, returned the welcomes with just as much enthusiasm, smiling and laughing along with the rest of them. They were so glad to have me back. The morons.

I was wearing my school uniform, of course and I had discovered that if I folded my wings in and pressed them tightly to my back, no one would know that I had them.

The moment that I got away from them all, after I made sure no one was watching me, a blank look appeared on my face.

"I wonder what emotion I should be feeling right now?" I murmured to myself. Annoyance perhaps? But what is annoyance? I didn't know anymore. "But it doesn't matter. I am..." I paused to search for the proper word, "...content."

Anna and Nonko walked up to me at that moment and I pasted a smile on my face and greeted them animatedly. I spent fifteen, agonizingly long, minutes with them, talking about what it was like to be back as they filled me in as to what had happened while I was gone. When the subject of Shinda (me) came up, their expressions turned somewhat hostile and I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. I hadn't known that the two girls could wield such emotions...

"She was trying to steal Natsume from you!" they both exclaimed angrily to me. "And she already had a boyfriend too! Daichi, the new kid-"

The abruptly stopped at that moment, a look on wonder coming over their faces.

"Come to think of it," Anna began. "We haven't seen Shinda or Daichi-kun in a couple of days now..." Nonko finished.

The two looked at each other for a moment before I mentally sighed at their stupidity.

"Shinda and Daichi?" I asked feigning curiosity. "Are you talking about that girl with the wings and the boy with those bright blue eyes?"

"YES!" They exclaimed in union. "You've seen them?" They asked excitedly.

I giggled and inwardly cringed at the sound. "Of course, sillies! I saw them on my way here! They said something about leaving GA. Going to another academy perhaps...?" I trailed off with a look of wonder on my face.

They booth made an "O" shape with there mouth and then burst into excited squeals, excited that Shinda was gone. Meanwhile I just sat there, smiling, and secretly wondering when the idiots would realize that Natsume and I were never actually a thing. Stupid girls and there rumors.... I sighed deeply and eventually just got up from my seat and left. I doubted that either one of them noticed.

I was going to go to my room when someone grabbed my wrist and spun me around. Passive hazel met angry crimson. Stepping out from behind Natsume was Hotaru. In her hand was her baka gun - Version 6.0 I believe - and it was pointed at me.

"Hello, you two." I said lightly. "Do you need something?"

**End chapter =P**

**You know the drill: R&R! XD**


	32. Chapter 30

**Hola peoples! =D Sorry I haven't updated in so long... I have been having huge snowstorms where I live, and i lost my power for a couple of weeks. Just got it back on Tuesday =/**

**Disclaimer: Try to limit your attempts at killing your friends to only 2-3 times per month. You keep them longer that way ;D**

**Normal POV**

BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!

Mikan dodged each of the bullets with expert precession, jumping into a back-hand-spring and ducking to the floor as three bullets soared past her.

Hotaru made a move to shoot at the brunet, but she sliced the small gun in half with a blade of wind, a neutral expression on her face as she stood back up.

"Now that's not a very nice way to greet me," Mikan commented dryly. "Do you do that to everyone that you see?"

Hotaru scowled and Natsume just stood there for a moment, a surprise in his eyes at Mikan's tone.

"You didn't tell us that you were coming back." Natsume stated.

Mikan shrugged, appraising both of the teens with dull eyes. "So what? You're not my keeper. Why do I have to tell you?"

Natsume's eyes narrowed to a glare and fire began to flicker in the air around him.

"What happened to you, Mikan?" he asker warily. "You're acting like-"

"Like when I first came to the academy?" said girl finished for him while nullifying his flame. "Is there something wrong with that? After all, emotions get in the way and affect my overall performance and efficiency during missions. I wouldn't want to end up dead because I did something as stupid as take a blow for you or something during a mission because I was _worried_."

At that Mikan paused and looked up towards the ceiling, as though she were trying to solve a particularly difficult puzzle. After a moment she shifted her gaze back to the two, both of which were watching her with a mixture of anger and confusion their faces.

"If that's all you have to say," she began cooly, "then i'll take my leave."

Mikan pivoted and began walking the opposite direction that she came, wanting to get away from the two as quickly as possible. Being around the two was strange - she felt no emotion aroung them of course, but there was just _something_ about the two.... Once again a large hand closed around her thin wrist.

"You're not going anywhere," Natsume snarled from behind her.

But of course they wouldn't let her go so easily.

Mikan whipped her head around to face him, her voice full of steel as she said, "Do. Not. Touch. Me." and kicked him away from her.

Natsume grunted on impact and was forced to release her but was otherwise unscathed. Hotaru stepped in front of him.

"Idiot," she called, "did you really think that we'd let you leave like that?"

"'We'? So now you two have some sort of alliance?" Mikan snorted. "I was unaware that you two even spoke...."

The fire caster and inventor both glanced at each other but said nothing.

Finally Hotaru spoke up. "We both want what's best for you, stupid," she conceded. "And if we have to work together to help you, we'll do it."

Mikan rolled her eyes. "Oh, cut the crap, Imai. You don't care about anyone but yourself. And Natsume?" she said, turning to the crimson eyed boy. "You're just a conceited bastard who spends all of his time sulking around and being a bastard."

Hotaru's eyes widened fractionally at this.

"Who did this to you?" Natsume asked in a whisper. "Mikan... the Mikan I know would have never acted like this."

"Well, then maybe you just didn't really know me," Mikan replied in monotone.

She then proceeded to take off her jacket and unfurl her wings which had been tucked tightly against her back. "I'll be going now." Mikan stated simply. She then ran off to the nearest exit and launched herself into the sky, leaving her two 'friends' behind with conflicted expressions on their faces.

* * *

"Akihiko..." Mikan began slowly. The two were sitting on the ground below the tallest tree in the Northern Forest, their decided official meeting place, leaning against its trunk. "You mentioned once that there was a goal that you wanted for me to help you accomplish. What goal is that exactly?"

Akihiko turned his piercing green eyes on her and smiled. "I'll tell you," he assured, his face turning serious, "but tell me this: no matter what my goal is, will you help me accomplish it?"

Mikan studied the man before her for a moment. This was the man who had helped her forget all of her pain and bring her back to the level that she once was and made her back into the weapon from before. He made it so that she would never lose perspective again and wouldn't have to live with the pain of losing Daichi any longer. She would help him.

"Of course." She replied easily. "No matter what."

Akihiko grinned at her answer. "Well then, I think it's time I tell you about it..."

**Stop! Sorry for the lame chapter... it's also very short too =/ -_-'**

**Forgive me? =3**

**LOL well, R&R!!!! 8D**

**976 words**


	33. Chapter 31

**Well, the next chapter is here! ^^**

Disclaimer: Destroying your school, though fun, is all and all a bad thing to do. Planning its destruction with an illegal organization is worse. I don't own GA. ^^

**Mikan POV**

I was sitting alone under Akihiko and I's meeting spot now, going over what he had just told me in my mind.

_'This goal of his...' _I wondered to myself, _'will it really be possible?'_

I shook my head immediately to get rid of those thoughts. He would be able to accomplish it with my help. And I would be standing right by his side as he did, watching as Alice academy was thrown into chaos and engulfed in flames.

And that was just phase 1.

The true result oh Akihiko's plans... well, it was way beyond destroying the academy. No. His goal was much bigger.

_'I will be by his side forever. Because that is the only way that I can repay my debt to him. I owe him everything...'_

On the day I turn fifteen, 1 year and 6 months from now, everything will change.

_

* * *

_

Time passes.

Quickly.

Slowly.

It can pass peacefully or it can pass painfully.

But pass it will...

Month after month,

week after week,

hour after hour,

minute after minute,

second after second.

Year after year.

Time passes,

even for me.

And in those times,

people can change.

They can become people unlike any people who you have ever met before,

a shadow of the person you once knew.

People can change,

even me.

* * *

**1 year, 5 months, 1 week later. Mikan: age 14, 3 weeks until Mikan's 15 birthday. 10th grade.**

"Aki-kun?" I asked in quiet monotone, using my nickname for Akihiko, sitting back to back with said person underneath our tree. My wings were open slightly so that they wouldn't be uncomfortable.

"Hm?"

"In 3 weeks all of our plans will be put into motions, no? So that you can achieve your goal?"

He laughed beside me. "But of course," he replied easily, a large contrast to my stoics. "Everything is already in place. The AAO agents have infiltrated the academy and are getting all of the elements set up as we speak. All I need is to give the word and everything will spring into action."

I was quiet. I lifted my hand to the vibrant green bracelet around my wrist and fingered the cool beads.

"Am I ready?" I asked him, turning my head slightly to get a better look at him.

Akihiko turned his head towards me as well, his green eyes flashing.

"Of course." he exclaimed. "I have been training you personally for almost a year and a half now. You actually doubt your skills?"

I stayed quiet and looked deep into his eyes. The face of a teenage girl reflected back: pale skin, long auburn hair, and expressionless hazel eyes.

"No." I admitted.

He smiled broadly, perfect white teeth flashing, and planted a soft kiss on my cheek.

"Good girl." he said with a grin, ruffling my hair.

I just sat still the entire time and watched with the same expression as he stood up, brushed his dark wash jeans and simple black t-shirt off, and disappeared into the forest.

* * *

**Natsume POV**

"Mikan...." I muttered exasperatedly.

I was sitting in the sakura tree alone again. She hadn't been here since that day.

It has been one year and almost six months since Mikan suddenly changed back to the emotionless weapon that I had met so long ago. To say that it shocked me would be an understatement. I had seen the girl change with my own eyes. I knew her faces. And even when I had first met her, she had even more emotion then than now. It was like the had become an empty shell inside.

I tried to change her back - me and Imai both. But nothing worked. Never. I tried agitating her, I tried fluff puffs, and I even attacked her once, hopping to get even a flicker of emotion, but Mikan simply evaded me and brushed me off without a change in face.

Sure, at school she was happy and sunny: she seemed perfectly normal. But in the end, it was all an act. It always was....

A vibrant green bracelet popped into my mind. It had perfectly rounded beads that shined with an almost cruel sort of beauty in the light. She was wearing that the day she reverted back. And the day after, _he_ showed up.

His name is Takeshi Akihiko-sensei. The academy's newest and youngest teacher at the age of 19. All of the girls ogled over him the moment he was introduced as out new history teacher. They drink in every word that he speaks as though it were water and follow him around constantly. I don't mind that - it's reduced the size of my ridiculously large fan club by about 1/5. What I do mind though, is that his eyes are the exact same as her bracelet, down to the shade and the way that they shine in the light when he thinks no one else is looking: cold and cruel. I also had Imai's agreement on this point. We both have formed a sort of alliance between us.... an understanding that we would work together to get back the real Mikan - something that Ruka was kept in the dark about.

"Hyuuga," called out a monotone voice from below me. I looked down to see bored amethyst eyes and short black hair.

"What, Imai?" I drawled.

She snorted at me and gave me a look. "Get you ass down here," she snapped. "I have some information."

I rose an eyebrow at this but jumped down anyway. I had learned not to push the Ice Queen. Alliance or not, she would still pull out those crazy inventions of hers and use them on me.

"What?"

"My newest bug," she began, "was actually able to make it. It picked up something major about Mikan before it was cut off."

This was big. Every bug, every thing that we tried to use to get some information about Mikan of Akihiko-sensei have all been dispatched or lost. Until now.

"What did you hear?" I asked impatiently.

Imai took a deep breath and I immediately knew that her next words were going to be bad. "Akihiko-sensei is with the AAO and with Mikan's help, on her 15 birthday, they are planning to destroy Alice Academy."

**Pause!**

REVIEW!!!!! =D


	34. Chapter 32

**I know. I fail. I said that I would update once a week and that SO has not been the case. Forgive me, but life has just sort of really been mean to mean and is tripping me and holding me down every time I think I am about to get to a computer. To put it simply it has been kinda hard to find the time to update. And now, even after such a long wait, I produce a lame chapter that is short (T-T) I blame high school =P**

**Disclaimer: I- eh..... I give up. You all should know by now ;D**

**Normal POV**

Help lead an attack on the academy?

Natsume snorted. That was ridiculous. Now, Natsume hated the place just as much as the next sane person, but even he wouldn't do something like that, and Mikan, no matter how cold and unattached she had become, would NEVER destroy the only place that she considered home. And he didn't like Akihiko-sensei either, but really? The academy would have caught something like that by now. But Hotaru Imai was clearly convinced otherwise.

"You're insane." the fire caster said bluntly.

Amethyst eyes narrowed dangerously. "What was that, _Hyuuga_?" she asked, spitting out his name.

"I said, 'you're insane'" Natsume repeated once more, drawling the words. "Mikan would never do something like that - no matter what. And besides: where's the proof?"

Hotaru was the one to snort this time. "Oh, _please_, Hyuuga." she snapped. "I've known the idiot longer than anyone else in this school, so I can safely say: she's changed. Something is wrong with her and _she isn't the same person you used to know_. And the proof is that I heard it with my own two ears. I wasn't able to record it, but you should at least be able to trust me enough to believe this. You know that I want the best for that moron, and we need to stop her."

"_You didn't even know her _real_ personality until a year ago_." Natsume retorted with a snarl. The ice queens eyes flashed with hurt for just a moment before she regained composure.

"Don't deny it." Natsume said lightly. "I knew the real Mikan long before you."

"Shut up!" the shorter girl said.

"You never-"

"Don't you dare..."

"were-"

"I'm warning you, Hyuuga..."

"Her_ real_-"

"Shut up!"

"-_best friend_." Natsume ended brutally.

Faster than the eye could see, Hotaru whipped out her infamous baka gun and aimed it at Natsume's head.

"I hate you." she said in a lowly, her voice shaking with anger. "You don't know a thing about me or Mikan."

BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!

Natsume quickly had to dodge the blows and glared at her.

"The truce is over." Hotaru said. "When you get killed because you didn't believe me: don't say I didn't warn you."

She turned around swiftly and began walking away. Crimson eyes burned with anger even after she disappeared.

* * *

The next day he watched her. Every movement that she made, any and all interactions between her and Akihiko-sensei... Everything. All of this was done secretly of course - he couldn't be caught openly staring at her the entire day now could he? He would seem like a stalker or something...

Natsume froze and the scratching sound of his pencil across the paper he was writing for english stopped. Crap. He basically was being a stalker right now, wasn't he? The prodigy Alice sighed and pushed his hand through his perfectly tousled raven hair, a common sign of irritation for the teen.

"Nevertheless..." he muttered and resumed glancing at the brunet secretly.

So far, everything seemed normal. She faked her happy idioticness, but she had been doing that since she had come to the academy. She talked to friends as usual and even flashed him a fake smile occasionally when in-front of a crowd. When no one was looking, her face would go flat and cold but then resume emotion the moment someone glanced in her direction.

The bell rand then and in came the teacher for the last class of the day. Takeshi Akihiko-sensei's history class.

_'This class.' _Natsume thought seriously. _'I can't afford to miss anything.'_

Crimson eyes watched carefully as the tall, green-eyed teacher walked into the room with a small smile on his face. Girls squealed, guys scowled, and Mikan just sat there, seemingly daydreaming all the while.

Class began and nothing seemed out of place thus far. They were studying major events during the edo-era and were currently discussing the battle of Sekigahra.

_'Boring, boring boring,'_ Natsume thought with a scowl. He despised history, even more so this past year than ever before.

"I will be passing back your test papers now." Akihiko announced with a smile. It was very nearly the end of class, with nothing but ten minutes to go. "The grades this time were very good, though a few of you will have to come to tutorials to make up the test."

With that the school's heart throb of a teacher began passing back papers. The girls practically drooled as her passed by him and most gave him sweet "Thank you sensei!"s of appreciation when they received their test. And then he came to Mikan.

He passed back her test paper and she grabbed it with quick hands.

"I'm sorry, Sakura-san" he said with an apologetic smile, "but you are going to need to stay after school today."

Mikan chuckled softly, her brown furrowed in frustration. "Aw man!" she exclaimed, never meeting his eyes. "And I was so sure I had done a good job this time too..." She sighed deeply and some of her class mates laughed.

Mikan looked up to give her teacher a dejected, "okay" and that was when the two locked eyes. Hazel meet verdant, a glint of understanding with them, and when their eyes moved to other places it was instantly over. It was like they had just had been discussing some secret between the two of them with eyes alone... That was suspicious.

Natsume knew that he should spy on the two after class, but Mikan was a seasoned Dangerous Abilities agent and would probably be able to sense him. What to do...?

"You can use this," a cold voice said close to him. A small silver sphere the size of the head of a ball point pen was set on his desk in a small plastic bag. Next came a small, currently blank screen the size of a notebook and as thin as one too. A camera and a screen. The fire caster shifted crimson eyes up to see Imai Hotaru standing over him. Her face was set into a scowl and her amethyst eyes looked down at him with unveiled dislike and disgust. All around the two students were packing up and walking out of the classroom door. School was over for the day. When had the bell rang?

"Why?" Natsume asked finally. The truce was over, she had said.

"Just because." she answered curtly. Natsume scowled. "And by the time that this is all over you will see that you are a fool and that I am superior to you and that, from the very start, you should have realized this all and listened to what I said."

The raven haired teen rolled his eyes. The class was beginning to thin out.

"When you are satisfied with what you saw, you can stop by my lab so that we can begin planning. Ja ne." And with that, the inventor left.

That was weird.

The fire caster looked back to the items given to him and picked them both up along with his other personal belongings. On his way out of the room, he slipped the tiny camera out of the clear plastic bag and set it on one of the may green leaves of a fern that was kept in the class by the door.

**Okay.... yeah. That's it for now. (please don't kill me. I know it was short T-T) I'll try to update ASAP!**

**Words: 1,495**

**Review. REVEIW. ReVeIw. REveIW. rEvEIw. rreevveeiiw!!!!!!!!!! Please ^^**


	35. Chapter 33

**There. I updated! ^^**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own GA, as surprising as it may seem ;P**

**Normal POV**

Natsume sat on his king-sized bed in his special star room and stared and the small, currently blank screen in front of him. With a sigh, he picked it up and pressed a small button on the side of it. The screen flickered to life.

* * *

Akihiko stood next to Mikan, who was currently seated in her desk, a bored out of her mind expression on her face.

"Akihiko-sensei~!" She whined. "Do I _really_ have to do this make up?"

The tall teacher chuckled and gave her a grin. "Sorry, Sakura, but yeah... unless you want to fail that is." he said with a grin.

Suddenly she broke into giggles and when they stopped and cruel look settled across perfect features. "What does it really matter?" she asked chillingly. "After all, before I can graduate this place will be in flames."

Her sensei shrugged and sat on the corner of her desk. Picking up a lock of the impassive brunets hair, he twirled it absent mindedly as Mikan glanced up at him in question.

"Appearances must be kept," he explained dully.

"I know...." Mikan replied easily. "But, some people have already figured it out though..." she turned her head to look at the large fern sitting innocently by the door. Sitting upon one of its many leaves was a small, barley visible black spec. Most would dismiss it as dirt or something frivolous like that, but Mikan knew better. Dirt didn't glint when it hit the light just right, did it?

_'Good, Imai,'_ Mikan thought to herself, _'but not good enough.'_

She cocked her head to one side, eyes locked on the camera, no expression on her face as she coldly asked,"... Haven't they, Natsume?"

Akihiko released Mikan's hair with a chuckle and gave his accomplice a pat on the head, earning him a steely-eyed hazel glare.

"Now, now," he chided, "Don't bait the black cat like that, Mikan. He'll get angry."

Mikan nodded curtly and stood up.

"Shall I dispatch the camera now?" she asked.

The green-eyed teacher gave a nod and Mikan walked over to the fern and picked up the impossibly tiny camera.

"Bye-bye, Natsume-kun." she muttered, crushing the small electronic between her index finger and thumb. She dropped it to the ground and it crackled with electricity for a moment before completely shutting down.

"We need to do something about him and that inventor girl, you know..." Akihiko said conversationally.

"I know."

"So what do you want to do about it then? Hmm?"

"They will be eliminated, of course."

"Good answer."

"I learned from the best."

* * *

The screen was now blank, a battle of black and white sizzling on the screen that had seconds ago revealed the true intentions of Mikan Sakura.

"Damn." he hissed.

Running a hand through unruly raven locks, crimson eyes sneezed shut as Natsume replayed the entire scene in his head. It was true. Imai's was right after all... And now _his_ Mikan was going to bring the destruction of all of Gakuen Alice because she's with the AAO.

How long had they known?

How long had it taken them to realize that someone was spying on them? And if they did know, why reveal the truth? After all, if they hadn't Natsume would still be as oblivious as before or, at the most, think that he didn't know that he was spying on them... They would have had the upper-hand that way.

"Unless it's because they think that I pose no threat." Natsume suddenly said aloud, eyes widening at the realization.

Just as he was about to ponder the idea further, there was a loud knock on his special star door and he turned around in annoyance. Getting up with a scowl, he stomped over to the door and threw it open.

"Look," he hissed, "I don't have ti- _Imai_?"

Apathetic eyes stared back up at him.

"Come." she said simply, and turned around and began walking off.

Unsure of what else to do, he shrugged and closed the door behind him as he followed after her.

* * *

They were standing in her lab - or rather Natsume was. Hotaru was seated in a large chair in front of her work desk that was covered with various scraps and tools with an invention sitting on top of it.

"Hyuuga," said the cool voice of Imai Hotaru.

"Hn."

"We need to stop Mikan."

"No duh," the fire caster replied with a snort.

Glaring at him she continued, "Persona needs to hear about this and especially the higher ups of this school. We only have a matter of weeks before the AAO strikes: we need to tell them so that the academy can prepare and stop them."

"Hate to break it to you Imai, but that's not gonna help."

"Oh?" she asked, raising one eybrown in question.

"The AAO has unlimited forces. They wouldn't back down even if we fought back. If we want to prevent the destruction of the academy, we need to stop Mikan and Akihiko-sensei. And besides" he added. "They already know. They're still planning to bring this place down."

There was a sharp intake of breath from the girl sitting beside him as her eyes widened. Hotaru didn't reply.

"You know I'm right." Natsume said darkly.

"First off, we don't even _know_ what Akihiko-sensei can do, but he could still probably be taken down by Persona even if it turned out that he was strong. He's powerful. But if he is busy fighting Akihiko-sensei, that would leave you to deal with the baka. What we should be worried about isn't him. It's Mikan. She's better than you. What would we do then? Capture her?" She snapped. "If we could even manage it she would probably just escape again. Are we going to reason with her then? She's beyond that now. If she wasn't this wouldn't even be happening."

Natsume stayed silent for a while, crimson eyes gazing toward the floor as he thought. She was right, he had to admit with a scowl.

_Green beads the color of Akihiko-sensei's eyes. Natsume had first seen the bracelet the day that Takeshi Akihiko was introduced as their new science teacher._

"The bracelet." Natsume said suddenly, serious crimson meeting cold amethyst.

"The one that Mikan always wears?" Hotaru asked.

He nodded. "Alice's can be transferred into object - he must have one that can control people."

"That could be right. No one knows what his Alice is after all. He's managed to never need to use it since he came a year ago. But how do we get it off? I'm sure that It won't be as easy as just as slipping it off of her wrist."

"I'll figure it out when the time comes."

"And if it doesn't work?" Hotaru never spoke the words aloud, but the question was in her eyes.

"It will work." the fire caster said confidently. "And I'll inform the principals and Persona tomorrow." he added as an after thought. "It's best that we are all prepared - there's only a matter of weeks before it all happens after all."

Turning on his heel he then proceeded to walk out of the room.

They both knew the answer to that unspoken question, but neither wanted to hear it voiced.

_If it doesn't work, then she'll have to die._

_**REVIEW PLEASE! X3**_


	36. Chapter 34

**Maa, maa.... Sorry it took so long. School's killer since its so close to the end of the year and I had a Dance comp. last weekend. Gomenosai!!!!**

**Thank you to my Beta: AvengedRomantic**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own GA, as surprising as it may seem ;P**

**Normal POV**

"Narumi-sensei," Hotaru called.

The blonde haired, purple-eyed teacher looked up from his papers to see the expressionless face of the ice queen looking down on him.

"Ah, Hotaru-chan," he greeted, breaking into a smile, "What are you doing in the teachers lounge? Do you need something?"

Hotaru snorted.

"Of course."

She said it like it was obvious, but then again, it was. Why else would she be there?

Narumi waited expectantly. "Well...?" he prompted.

"How does your Alice work?" she asked. "You can out it in an object, right? Since you can control a person's emotions, does that also mean you can take them away? And if you put an Alice enhanced item on, let's just say a bracelet for example, how would you take it off?"

Her teacher just blinked when she finished her onslaught of questions, taking a moment to process them all and come up with the proper responses.

"Well, yes: I can put my Alice into an object if I want, but it takes a master Alice to do so." he began with a smile on his face, answering the first of her questions. "As for the question of if I can take them away? I have never tried that but I don't think I could. That takes another Alice: Emotional Lockdown. With it you can remove certain emotions, while adding or enhancing others. If you change someone's emotions around with it, then you can essentially control someone that way. And you can take most Alice items off like you would anything normally, but some are made to be permanent."

Hotaru cursed under her breath.

"How would you take off something that is supposed to be permanent?" she asked icily.

Narumi tilted his head to think for a moment.

"Well..." he said slowly. "I don't really think you can, unless it's cut off or something happens to make it break, but that takes a very large amount of force to do that..." he said, trailing off. "Say, Hotaru-chan, why-?"

The blond stopped, realizing that he was talking to thin air now.

"Where did that girl go...?" he wondered aloud. "Is she in trouble or something? Psh! Nah." he exclaimed, dismissing the notion as soon as he thought of it.

Narumi looked down at the papers that were strewn across his desk again, reading the small black words with boredom.

* * *

**Mikan POV**

I had watched their conversation from afar, cloaked in invisibility by one of my many Alice's, and now sat in my room on top of the large bed.

_'Emotional Lockdown?'_ I wondered. _'Why was Imai asking Narumi-sensei about Alice enhanced items and things like that?'_

Looking down, I brought a hand to the bracelet on my wrist, running my fingers along the smooth beads. Did she think that the bracelet had something to do with it? I supposed that if I still had the emotion of amusement I would have laughed at the absurdity of the thought.

_'It's been a while since I've done that..._' I mused.

But this little piece of jewelry was _helping me_. All that it did was made it so that I wasn't like I was before. Daichi had been the first person that I'd ever lost before who was close to me and it hurt. Bad. But now it was all better because Akihiko. So yes, I suppose that perhaps I was a little bit more violent than I was before. Maybe I _could_ be a little caustic with my words sometimes... but that had nothing to do with my bracelet. Hotaru must actually think that this was forced upon me.

_"How would you take off something that is supposed to be permanent?" she asked icily._

_Narumi tilted his head to think for a moment._

_"Well..." he said slowly. "I don't really think you can, unless it's cut off or something happens to make it break, but that takes a very large amount of force to do that..."_

But I could take off this bracelet.

I closed my fingers around the beads-

If I really wanted to, I could take this thing off.

-and began to slide them down my wrist-

I had a _choice_. Akihiko gave me one. Hotaru was defiantly wrong.

-when it got to my hand I began to notice some resistance, and it glowed dully. The moment that I got the green beads to the beginning of my thumb, they wouldn't budge. I knew that it wasn't because it was too small: actually it was kind of large, and should come off with ease. I tugged on it but it didn't move past there. Its only response was that that the dull glow got brighter.

After about five more minutes I stopped and looked at my wrist with wide eyes.

Shock.

That, I knew for sure, is what I should be feeling at this time.

But still, nothing.

_'There has to be a good excuse for this,'_ I reasoned. _'He must just want to make sure it didn't fall off or something. The bracelet IS rather large...'_

But the more reasonable part of my mind disagreed.

"I'll just ask him tomorrow morning." I decided my voice dropping to a low hiss. "There is no way that I'm being controlled. I made this choice all on my own."

I refused to believe that I could be manipulated.

I knew this was the moment where I would feel a tug of irritation, but nothing came.

* * *

**Natsume POV**

"Persona, I have something I need to tell you." I said in a low voice.

The two of us were in the DA room. He sat behind a large mahogany desk, fingered laced together in front of him, her chin resting on them. He quirked an eyebrow and I could feel his eyes burrowing into me from behind his mask.

I stood directly in front of him, dressed in my school uniform. I had come directly from Imai's lab.

"I'm listening...." he said slowly.

"First you need to swear not to say a word to anyone until I say so. When I begin, do not interrupt: just listen."

Persona snorted.

"Fine. You have my full attention."

"Mikan is working with the AAO." I saw Persona stiffen. "Akihiko-sensei, the history teacher, is also with them and the two are helping to lead a full army of AAO agents to the Academy and destroy it. They know that I know, but they plan to launch the attack anyways. They are conceited enough to think it won't matter." I ended.

From behind his desk, Persona had gone completely still, his fists were clenched together tightly and he was no longer resting his chin on them, and instead was sitting up straight, all attention on me.

"The implications that you are making are very serious, _Hyuuga_," he practically snarled. "I would like some proof."

"Hotaru Imai was the first to figure it out. She planted some bugs and saw their conversation herself. I also saw it today... I'm not wrong."

"Mikan would never-"

"She isn't the girl you once knew." I snapped, slamming my hands down on the hard wood. "She's _different_. So yes: she would do it. But it's not because she just changed- it's because of that bracelet."

Persona, though I couldn't see it, narrowed obsidian eyes behind his white mask. "That green one that she always wears lately?"

"Yes. It must be enhanced with an Alice of some sort."

The DA teacher took a deep breath to compose himself.

"So what do you need me to do?" he asked. He sounded exhausted and I knew that this had to be killing him inside.

"I need you to convince everyone in the DA to help fight. But we need to keep this secret. We will stay in the shadows for now, preparing to fight until the AAO arrives..."

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	37. Chapter 35

**School is OVER. FINALLY! X3**

**ZOMG! I am soooooo excited! huzzah!**

**.**

**Anyways, sorry for not updating in so long. I feel really bad about it because I know that I hate waiting for people to update their stories and I haven't been doing mine as often as I would like too. I had exams and all, but now it's summer and updates should be quicker. I hope. I really don't know... we have family coming to my house and I have dance, my sister is graduating, I am going to dance nationals... yeah. BUT I WILL TRY! ^^**

**Anyways: enjoy!**

**Disclaimer? Why bother? You all should know by now ;D**

**Normal POV**

"The first team will cover the front entrance to the main building. All of the students will be kept there, so don't let anyone in or out - that goes for all teams responsible for guarding students! Team 2 will..."

Natsume tuned out the rest of the DA teacher's words. Persona and Natsume had already discussed the role that Natsume would be playing during the invasion. Instead, he opted for glancing around the room and at the faces of everyone there. As it turned out, the DA class was completely willing to help out. As much as they hated the school, they had friends that they wanted to protect and would sacrifice themselves in the battle to save them. Even Luna was present. The fire caster idly wondered if it was a characteristic that was developed in all of them over their time in the Dangerous Ability Class and as an agent for the school.

Natsume grinned slightly when Imai stepped to the front to give her part on the defense line and different strategies. She seemed very in tune with what she was doing and Natsume thought that she made a good tactical planner with her mind, though he would never admit it.

All in all the meeting passed by in a flash; the first official meeting for the Alice Academy Invasion Defense Army or the AAIDA for short. A lame name, but it would have to do. Natsume supposed he should be grateful they weren't the Alice Academy Defenders of Justice, or something stupid like that.

"So are you ready for this, Hyuuga?" a monotone voice asked him. Natsume glanced to the side.

"As ready as I'll ever be I guess, Imai."

"Two weeks," she murmured, more to herself than anyone else. The room was pretty much empty save for the few lingering students and Persona.

"Yeah..."

"Do you really think we will be able to do this when it comes time?" Imai asked with a rare show of worry.

"We'll have to, Imai. We'll have to..."

* * *

OoOoOoOoOo

* * *

Mikan hummed to herself, the picture of nonchalance as she lay on her stomach using her elbows to prop her up and looked over the plans for the AAO's invasion splayed out in front of her in her room. Earphones were stuck in her ears and she was listening to some mainstream pop music. She didn't particularly like the band she was listening to, but she was bored, and it was better than nothing she supposed.

"_If I could write you a song to make you fall in love_  
_I would already have you up under my arm_  
_I used up all my tricks, I hope that you like this  
But you probably won't, you think you're cooler than me..._" she sang softly to herself.

"You like that song?" A man asked from behind her.

"Not really..." Mikan admitted without turning to look at whoever had spoken. She already knew the owner of the voice and she silently hit the pause button on her Mp3. "Did you need something Aki-kun?"

He laughed sotfly, "No, I was just seeing how you were doing. Don't forget: we have a meeting at 9:00pm with the AAO spies today. Don't be late."

Mikan shot him a look of disdain over her shoulder.

"I know," she snapped. "I'm not stupid."

Akihiko held up his hands in surrender, a mocking smile on his face. "I know, I know," he assured her, " I was just reminding you. And you might want to fix up that window of yours - it's much to easy to get in through it."

Mikan huffed in annoyance and went back to reading where she left off, clicking play on her Mp3 as she did. Akihiko chuckled from behind her and left her dorm.

_... you are to kill any and all persons who get in your way on your way to assassinate the high-school, middle-school, and elementary-school principals. If the Black Cat is seen, steal the Alice before commencing termination..._

_"You got designer shades just to hide your face and  
You wear em' around like, you're cooler than me..."_

_

* * *

_

**The Next Day...**

"Kokoro Yome?"

"Here."

"Sumeri Shouda?"

"Here."

Mikan watched with well disguised boredom as her once favorite teacher called out role.

"Mikan-chan?" Narumi asked with a smile in her direction.

She immediately put on her signature grin that everyone knew and loved but made Mikan's cheeks hurt like crap and annoyed her to no end.

"Here!" She exclaimed happily.

Everyone in class reacted, some grinning to themselves or laughing while others like Sumeri roller their eyes but grin slightly despite themselves. Five names later and the purple-eyed teacher closed the role book with a snap and went to the center at the front of the room.

"Okay, class," he began cheerily, completely unaware of the on-goings of the school and how in a matter of weeks the Academy would be torn apart. "Today we will be..."

Mikans eyebrows rose minutely as she tuned the over exuberant blond out. So he would be teaching today? That was a rare one...

"... Cinderella!"

Mikan blinked and looked up in surprise.

What?

The whole class was in an uproar, chattering among themselves excitedly.

"Oh, I would love to play the part of Cinderella!" one girl said wistfully to her friend.

"Ooh! Me too!" her friend squealed in reply.

Huh?

"Natsume-kun should totally be the prince." Sumeri said with hearts in her eyes.

"You know, I would like to be the princess," Anna said thoughtfully, "But I think that Mikan should be her."

Nonko nodded. "Yeah! She's pretty and nice, and would make a wonderful Cinderella."

A few of the guys and girls around the two nodded and eventually the idea spread throughout the whole class.

"We should nominate Mikan-sama for sure!" one of her fanboys declared.

What the _hell _did she miss?

"Quiet!" Narumi shouted. The talking died instantly. "Now, This play will be going on in time for the Alice festival next month, so we have to work really hard for this! I know that you all have been discussing roles, so any suggestions for each part?"

"Mikan-sama for Cinderella!" one boy called out. The entire class agreed immediately.

"Wh-what?" Said girl sat up quickly. "I can't be Cinderella."

_'Aki-kun would not be happy,' _she thought with slight irritation. _'I don't have time for this crap.'_

"Oh, but you have already been nominated, Mikan-chan. Besides, everyone agrees, so you have the part." Her teacher chirped happily. "Now, anyone else?" he asked, turning to the rest of his students.

"S-sensei!" Mikan interrupted, trying to look as desperate as possible. She knew that normally Mikan would not act like this and for sure it would raise questions, but she didn't have the time to be the lead role in a play that would never go on. "I really can't be her! I have school work, and- and, uh..." _'Crap. What else to say...?'_ "I have to go in for tutorials with Akihiko-sensei because I don't understand the current topic! So that would take up time after school and I can't go in the mornings because he doesn't do them then..."

The class was all staring at her now, and Mikan noticed that crimson and amethyst were especially probing as she pled her case.

"Oh..." Narumi said, looking slightly deflated. "Is that so?"

Mikan nodded her head rapidly.

"Well, if that's the case, then I guess that-"

"I'll teach it to her." a monotone voice interrupted. "Hyuuga will help as well."

The brunette double agent whipped around to see Hotaru Imai standing up, raising her hand as she volunteered. On the opposite side of the room, Natsume looked ticked off at being thrown into her plan, but didn't say anything.

"Hyuuga and I currently have perfect scores in his class and I believe that we are more than qualified to teach this moron. She can learn after play rehearsals from us, right Mikan?" she asked haughtily. "After all, it's not like you have anything else to do, no?"

The challenge in her eyes was obvious and the tension in the room rose instantly with those words.

Mikan responded with a chilling grin and steely hazel eyes. Her hands were relaxed at her sides but the urge to lash out and attack her was very strong at the moment. Hidden wings shifted unnoticeably underneath her blazer and dress shirt. "Of course not, _Imai-san_." she said sweetly, her words like shards of ice, "Nothing at all."

She gave her "best friend" a sweet smile that to everyone but the three who knew the truth seemed adorable and angelic but was actually cruel and promising a painful death. The ice queen suppressed a shiver.

Narumi cleared his throat uncomfortably, not exactly sure what was with all of the tension, but eager to remove it. Putting on his best smile, he said, "Oh! Thanks you two! See? It all works out Mikan-chan. You don't have to worry."

The center of attention averted her eyes from the stoic inventor and directed her gaze at her teacher then. "Oh, yes." she agreed. "I am_ so_ happy to have friends like these. I just love them to _death_!"

* * *

"Aki-kun" Mikan hissed into her cellphone. It was in between passing periods and she had teleported to the school roof. "We have a problem. That _freak_ Imai and that bastard Hyuuga got me signed up for some stupid play. I can't get out of it - it's a sealed deal. I don't even know why we have to put one on anyways... It's stupid and a waste of time... yeah, I know... I promise not to kill anyone before the designated time, but what do I do about training and planning? Send a clone?"

She was slient as she listened to him talk on the other end of the line.

"Uh huh... Yeah... Yes, sir... Bye."

She snapped the cell shut and shoved it into her blazer pocket.

"Those two will be the first to die," she told herself, with a bored look on her face as she looked over the edge of the the roof to view the students milling around. "They have caused one too many problems for me to spare them - not that I was going to in the first place."

**Dun dun duuuuun... ^^**

**2,063 words!**

**R&R! X3**


	38. Chapter 36

**I sent this to my beta a while ago but I have yet to get it back so I will post this for now until the beta'd version arrives ^^**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice**

**Mikan POV**

It was an estimated 8:00 in the morning, judging on the position of the sun. I didn't feel like going to my room to find a clock for the exact time.

I stared at the cold beads resting against my wrist, forest against cream. The morning light glinted off of them and threw white beams scattering off in different angles, almost like a diamond would. Idly I wondered if it was because this was some special sort of gem. Some Alice stones did the same thing...

I shook my head to clear the thoughts. I wouldn't let that overheard conversation get to me.

Standing up from the plush couch I had just been sitting in inside my room, I went to my school bag to grab the script that I had so carelessly stuffed inside my bag just the day before. Cinderella... tch. It was ridiculous, what I was being forced to do. And the fact that I had to play a dainty little _princess_ just made it all the worse! I so wanted to burn the script to ashes.

My fingers twitched beneath the bound paper, tempted to release the power of my stolen fire Alice and destroy the nuisance held between my fingers. I restrained myself.

I stared at the cover; _Sort of __Cinderella_ it read in elegant script. I blinked and read over the title again.

_'Sort of...?'_ I wondered mentally, unsure of if I really wanted to know just why this was "sort of Cinderella". I hated Narumi. And now that I thought about it, Aki-kun as well...

-o-

_"You have to do this. Just... think of it as a distraction. While it is troublesome for you, you are already prepared for that day and you have been so uptight lately," I scowled at this, "so have fun and try not to kill anyone, okay?" Akihiko asked, ruffling my hair. I slapped his hand away with an annoyed look and nodded reluctantly._

_"Yes sir."_

-o-

I sighed deeply. Well, I might as well get started.

Flipping open the first page I began reading memorizing each word and detail while reading aloud my lines when I came across them. I had to practice - rehearsals began today during my first class and even if this is all going to be wasted time and effort in the end, it wouldn't do to look like a fool for not knowing my part.

* * *

I was sitting an class, a small feigned smile on my face as I continued reading the script. So far, it wasn't that different - but then again I was not that far into the story yet... But something about Cinderella was off: the Cinderella in the script, while usually sweet, had a fiery temper and was clumsy and could be quite a ditz. I had never seen the play before, but I knew the story in general. Wasn't she supposed to be more... princess like? The Cinderella I was playing seemed a lot like my facade as Mikan. And the step mother's character seemed very familiar as well...

I blinked when I realized that it was coming to the part where I would meet "Prince Charming".

_"Narrarator: Cinderella entered the ballroom and began looking around. She never saw Prince Charming coming towards her until it was too late..._

_Cinderella: (looks around ballroom curiously with a big smile on her face. Begins walking around randomly. Runs into Prince Charming and falls down)_

_Prince Charming: (reaches hand down to help Cinderella up)_

_Cinderella: (blinks. Sheepishly) Oh, umm, thank you. Sorry for bumping- (is cut off)_

_Prince Charming: (In cold voice with glare) Watch out, little girl._

_Cinderella: (Annoyed/angry) Well sorry! I didn't see you! (Muttered) Jerk didn't even give me the chance to apologize..._

_Prince Charming: (with a smirk) Whatever. (Walks past her. Whispered) Polka-dots._

_Narrator: Cinderella then realizes that when she fell, the perverted Prince saw her underwear and becomes very angry._

_Cinderella: (Flustered) What the..? (Angry. Spins around to glare at Prince Charming. Shouted) __You _pervert_! _

___Prince Charming: (Turns to look at Cinderella with raised eyebrows)_

___Cinderella: (Stomps on Prince Charming's foot)"_

I stopped reading right there, eyes narrowing in surprise. Their relationship... the way that they met...

I continued reading.

_"Prince Charming: (Growls angrily. Glares at Cinderella. Dangerously) I _dare_ you to so that again, Polka._

_Cinderella: (indignantly) Hmph! Don't think I _won't_! (Stomps on foot again. Smug look.)_

_Prince Charming: (angrily) Why you little..._

_Narrator: And just before Cinderella could say any more, she saw the clock behind Prince Charming and saw that it was about to strike twelve._

_Cinderella: (gasps) Oh no! (Begins running to exit. Panicked.)"_

Refusing to read any further I shut the script with a loud _snap!_ and stood up quickly. It was about ten minutes until class began but, for once, Narumi was early. Taking a few breaths to calm myself and the script in my hands, I began walking up to my blond teacher.

"Oh, hello Mikan-chan! Can I do something for you?" he asked when he saw me.

"Excuse me, Sensei," I said sweetly, smiling at him and staring with large, innocent hazel eyes. "I was looking over the script just now, and the scenario is a lot like-"

"I know!" He interrupted me with a cheer. "Isn't it just _wonderful?_" he laughed. " I had some people re-write it for me according to you and Natsume-kun's characters!"

Listening to him now it took all of the restraint I had to not rip his head off. Literally. A negative side effect of my bracelet is that when the only real emotions still there are anger and viciousness in general, I jump to them quickly and it takes more willpower to stop from lashing out. Like right now.

I clenched my fist.

_'Don't kill him Mikan,' _I told myself. _'Aki-kun said not to kill anyone. Yet.'_

I took several deep breaths.

"Yup, yup! Totally great!" I ground out between clenched teeth, a plastic smile stretched across my face. "Now, if you will excuse me, I need to get back to... practicing."

I walked back to my desk somewhat stiffly, my hidden wings shifting beneath the fabric of my uniform agitatedly. I sat back down in the wooden chair with a plop and glared at the script in my hands until class began.

**M'kay! ^^**

**A pointless chapter... Gomene... =_=**

**Review please~! =D**


	39. Chapter 37

**My Beta is on break for now and will be back August. Until then, sorry for all mistakes!**

**I have a fanfict recommendation for you all if you are interested: Brokenfacades _Five Words. _I happen to think it is an excellent fict so far and I think you all would enjoy! It is brand new and so is she at writing, but she promises to update whenever possible and I think that she will prove herself to be a great author. For anyone who wants to check this out, a link to her profile and story are at the top of my my profile. ****It is a NatsumexMikan fict under Drama/Romance category. Go check it out and give the girl some reviews while your at it! :D**

**Mikan POV**

I stared at the ruined training dummies blankly, watching as their stuffing pour out from the multiple slashes in the fabric and onto the concrete floor in the underground training room. To say that i was not in the best mood would have to be an understatement, but I was pissed for a reason... It was 7 in the morning and I was dreading class that day, for once not because of all the idiots that surrounded me (though that did play a part in it), but because of play rehearsals.

"Maybe I can feign sickness and skip out?" I wondered aloud, staring blankly down at the silver metal of the sword I was training with. It reflected me back, but only halfway. The clear reflection depicted a girl who looked... empty, while the other half was just a blur. You couldn't tell what it was. But that first half, the girl it showed looked so lifeless that, if I could feel it, i knew I would feel pity for her. But then I remembered that _I _was that girl and dropped the sword like it was on fire. It clattered to the floor.

I took a step away from it.

Was that how I appeared to everyone who saw me? Without my mask that is?

I tried to find an explanation to contradict that path of thought but for once, I couldn't find a logical solution. I knew that if it was possible, I would be scared because of that.

Not bothering to pick up the sword i teleported away from the training room and to a place that I hadn't been to in, well, years.

The large tree was as beautiful as ever even though it was bare, with large branches that extended high into the sky. There weren't any flowers at the moment, since it was still December and January 1st wasn't for another week and a half. It was so close to the end of gakuen Alice, yet so far... I vaguely wondered if this tree would survive the attack, or would it fall like all those who opposed us would?

My breath came smokey puffs against the cold air, the wind cut through the thin fabric of uniform and I rubbed by hands together to gain some warmth. It was in the high 30's (F) when it came to temperature and I wondered if it would snow. It had yet to this year, odd as it may be. But then again it had been a late winter and though it had been chilly lately, it was only last week that ithe temperature really began to drop. I put a bare hand up to the trunk, feeling the rough texture of the bark beneath my cold fingers.

"I think I want you to survive the battle," i said softly to the tree.

"What are you doing here, Mikan?" a deep voice asked from behind me.

Eyes widening marginally I turned to meet fiery red eyes. A scowl was on Natsume's face and I cocked my head to the side, staring at him with half-lidded eyes.

"I was unaware that standing beside a tree was not allowed," I deadpanned.

Natsume frowned. "Hn."

"Yet again with the mono-syllable responses I see. What? Cat gotten your tongue, _kitten_?"

He snarled in reply to the nickname and i couldn't help but smirk this was as close as I got to fun, teasing the kuro neko and I might as well get the most of it.

"Don't call me that!"

"Oh? Why not...?"

"Only Mikan can call me that."

I looked at him dryly. "I _am_ Mikan and I _gave_ you that nickname."

Natsume chuckled and gave me a look that was a mix of pity anger, and sadness.

"You may have the same name and the same face," he told me, "but you stopped being the girl I fell for a long time ago."

For some reason that stung.

"You fell for me?" I asked continuing on anyways.

He shook his head. "No: I fell for Mikan Sakura."

"I am Mikan Sakura!" I snapped, annoyed.

He gave me a look. "Really?" it seemed to ask.

That one stung as well.

"I know who I am!" I hissed.

"Tch. Whatever... You can say whatever you want but i won't believe you until you take off that bracelet. You don't know a thing about yourself. When was the last time you smiled?"

Funny. I had been asking myself that question just yesterday...

"I am content!"

"But you're not _happy!_"

I knew what he was doing, goading me on. He was trying to prove that he was right. I took the bait, believing that i would come out on top.

Gathering my stolen strength Alice into my arm and wrapping my fingers securely around the ice cold beads, i pulled.

Natsume smirked when all that happened was the green beads cutting into my wrist.

"I, I..." I murmured looking at the innocent seeming piece of jewelry that was stuck to me. I wasn't shocked, as that was impossible, but I was now furious.

"Save it."Natsume said, and walked away.

The stuttering continued with no one to hear as I tried to find the answer to what was happening. I had tried before to take it off, but I thought for sure with enough force that it would break.

"There is always an answer," I told myself. "There is always an answer, isn't that what Persona onii-sama told-?" I cut myself off.

"Nii-sama..." how long had it been since I thought of him anyways?

There was always an answer - it just might not be the one you want.

And just like he said I did have an answer, but it wasn't the one that i wanted at all.

And so the seed of doubt was planted.

**Chapter done! ^^**

**Review please!**


	40. Chapter 38

**Hmm... I feel REALLY dumb right now. You know that fanfict recommendation I made? **_**Five Words**_**? You know how I said I would put up a link and all? i forgot. But it's up now! So... yeah. **_**Now**_** you can go check it out! It's a great fanfict! And leave the girl a review! She's new ^^**

**Oh my god. I realized while I was writing this I had no idea what day it was, except that it was in the middle of the week. This chapter will clarify. ^_^''**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice or Detective Conan =^.^=**

**Normal POV**

Mikan was still standing beneath the sakura tree, studying it's bare branches distractedly as she thought.

"No matter what solutions I have come up with, the Hyuuga does have a point," she spoke aloud to herself.

Her smokey breaths rose high into the frigid air before disappearing.

"I believe it is time to pay my big brother a visit."

* * *

**2 Days Later...**

Persona stared out his office window blankly as the sun began to peak over the horizon and bring light to the morning, eyes dull behind his white mask.

It was December 23 and a Thursday. The attack would be on a Saturday and he wondered what the ESP and the rest of the principals would do when they learned of the oncoming battle. How much trouble would he be in when they realize he kept this information from him?

He sighed.

It was for the better though, that it was kept secret. The ESP would be rash and order Mikan to be captured. He didn't know about the middle and high school principals, so he wouldn't take that chance with them. And the AAO would attack anyways, leaving a defenseless academy to come up with an on the spot plan to stop them. The DA teacher didn't think that they could contain her very well anyways - not the way she was now. No... it was better this way since they were still finalizing the plans with only nine days until.

"Onii-sama," a silky voice said behind him.

Persona whipped around in surprise.

"Mikan!" he hissed when he saw her, ignoring how his heart hurt seeing her expressionless face. "What are you doing here?"

She stood there, at ease, and dressed in white shorts and a form fitting blue sweatshirt.

"Someone wise once told me that there is always an answer to every problem - you just might not like what it is," she began quietly. "That_ 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable must be the truth.'_"

She paused and hazel met obsidian as Mikan cocked her head to one side.

"I also know that you got that second part from a TV show, but I will forgive you for that idiocy because it is true. And that being said, I have found my answer. I do not like it."

"Where are you going with this?" he asked, not once dropping guard.

"Serio Persona onii-sama, _I have a proposition for you_."

* * *

Mikan slipped into her dorm room through the balcony with ease, her foot steps soundless as she walked through her room. It was still early in the morning, as she had approached her surrogate brother at the crack of dawn. She glided to her oversized bathroom and readied her self for a shower.

When the hot water began pounding down on her shoulders she went over the plan in her mind. It would be simple, efficient, and rid herself of the nuisance know as Akihiko.

She sighed deeply and continued to let the hot water soak into her skin.

_-Flashback-_

_"I have a proposition for you," Mikan said cooly._

_Persona blinked in surprise, having thought that she had come for a fight. He relaxed slightly but not all the way._

_"Oh?" he asked._

_"I have reason to think that everything that Akihiko-san has led me to believe is false. To a certain extent at least." she added quickly at the end. "The bracelet that he had given to me is the one that block out all unnecessary emotion, not including ones that could be considered negative. I think that this has been clouding my judgement in regards to what is right and what is wrong. I hate that."_

_She paused to look at him._

_"And so I want to work with you as a double agent. I will give you all of the information that you want in trade for removing this bracelet so that my judgement is no longer warped. I don't want to make a mistake that I would otherwise not make because I wasn't thinking straight."_

_Persona just looked at her and Mikan could see his doubt a clear as day. She just hoped that he would trust her anyways._

_"Fine." he said after a moment. "And If I can get the bracelet removed, what will you do next?"_

_"I don't know," she confessed. "And I will not know until this bracelet is gone and the emotions come with it. While emotions may in someways confuse thoughts and make things more difficult, they also help in knowing what to do and making some choices. Since I am lacking in the emotions department, other than anger and such, I cannot tell you what I will do."_

_Persona sighed deeply. "Deal," he agreed and smiled slightly when Mikan attempted to give him a smile of her own, despite the fact that she didn't really feel it. It was the thought that counted._

_-End-_

She sighed and shut off the water before stepping out of the shower and wrapping a towel around her hair and body.

Mikan had a long week ahead of her, she knew. She would have to keep this betrayal secret from Akihiko and find the time to talk to her brother while making sure to keep up her act. And then there were the play rehearsals. She didn't even want to think of those stupid things, but she knew it was inevitable.

She would never tell anyone this, but she was looking forward to never having to wear the forest green beads again.

* * *

He stood on her balcony, not bothering to go in the room or to reveal himself to her. He scowled when he saw her flip open a phone and begin talking to that stupid "bother" of hers.

Her long brown hair was wet and drops of water continuously slid down her hair and fell to the floor. Mikan was already dressed for school, a towel slug over her shoulders to catch the water.

"I knew that this would happen but I never expected for her to figure it out so soon. I was hoping for it to happen in the midst of battle at the very least," Akihiko murmured disdainfully. "She has always been too smart for her own good."

He shook his head slowly.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to do something about this... I can't have the girl double crossing me in the middle of a battle as important as this. But at the same time I need her for the first part of the invasion more than any other time. Pity..."

He dug into his jean pockets to find a cellphone of his own. He clicked the on button and watched the screen light up with dull green eyes.

"I didn't want to have to kill her so soon..."

**This chapter wasn't _that_ long, so sorry about that. Kinda a lame update after so long, probably... ;D**

**I got the rather lame total of 3 reviews last chapter. C'mon, guys, I know that a ton of you read this: just click the button and write something! I like feedback: I want to know what I am doing right and wrong and if you like it or not. If I can get 15 I will for sure update next week with a 2,000+ words chapter =)**

**REVIEW!**


	41. Chapter 39

**Well, you guys didn't actually meet the quota for the reviews, but since seven more of you reviewed than before, I just decided to go ahead and write the 2,000 words ^^**

**Sorry that I didn't update until this afternoon. I was at dance from 9:45 am to 2:15 pm today. Ugh...**

**_pretty kamboj_ First off, thanks for the review! My plan was already reminiscent to what you have suggested, but thanks anyway. If you have an account, by the way, please PM me.**

**Disclaimer: last I checked I don't own. *looks back down at name on volume 9 of Gakuen Alice* Nope. Still not mine.**

**Mikan POV**

I watched wordlessly from my chair as Hotaru studied my bracelet, her violet eyes narrowed in concentration, as she tested how far one could stretch it before it stopped moving and snapping a few photos every now and then. A 360 model lit up one of her larger computer moniters as the computer generated image of the green beads turned slowly, notes and observations that she had made that day positioned around it. It was their first session on removing it since she had talked to her older brother earlier that day. They had but seven more days at the most to get rid of the bracelet.

"Well?" I asked after a moment, blinking when she sighed deeply and ran a hand through her slightly-longer-than-usual black hair. Idly I realized that she needed a hair cut.

"I don't know what to do about it," she admitted finally, dismay and annoyance that she can't succeed obvious on her face. "There is nothing that can cut this off because that guy-" "Akihiko," I reminded her. "-Akihiko seems to have put some sort of barrier or something on it. We can only pull on it so hard to try and break it apart before it breaks your wrist and then you won't be much good during the invasion will you?"

"I could attempt at healing it." I informed her.

"My brother has the healing Alice as well - it can only do so much. It works best on flesh wounds, deep tissue, and muscles. Not bones."

"..."

Another sigh.

"For now I will continue studying this. Maybe I can find another Alice that will counter-act this one and we can get you free."

"If that's all am I free to go now?"

A nod.

"Thank you for your help, Hotaru-san."

"-Chan." she said, looking at me seriously. I blinked.

"What?"

"Call me Hotaru-chan. You used to always call me that, and now that you are on the right side, you aren't getting away with this formal crap you're pulling. Got it?"

I shrugged. Why not humor her?

"Yes, Hotaru-chan."

She turned away and sat down in the rolling chair in front of her computer. The sound of tapping on the keyboard floated over to me soon after.

"Now get out of my lab," she told me with annoyance. But I could hear the smile in her voice when she said it.

I left without protest.

* * *

When I walked into class the next day, smile pasted on my face, I was not expecting a glowering Natsume Hyuuga to waltz right up to me, clamp a hand around my wrist, and drag me right back out of the room. I frowned at this.

"Forgive me for the language," I drawled, totally insincere, when we finally came to a stop. "but what the _hell_ are you doing?"

We were standing in the doorway of one of the few empty rooms in the academy. Few students were still walking about since class was going to begin soon.

He had yet to let go of my arm and I didn't feel the need to remove my wrist simply because I was much to lazy to. Weather he realized this or not was debatable, but I decided to let it slide.

Natsume sneered at me, the look on his face distrusting and all together angry with me. I just stared in response.

"What game are you playing?" he hissed at me. "There is no way in hell that you would just change sides so easily after two years of loyalty to the AAO. What's the catch?"

I gave him a blank look before saying, "First off, it's a year and a half. Not two. And second? There is no catch. I am helping the Academy's side in exchange for my freedom. It's a give and take situation with no strings attached."

"You really expect me to believe that?"

"What reason do you have not to?"

Natsume snorted at this. "What reason to I have _to_?"

"Nii-sama believes me. Hotaru-chan does as well. You do not trust their judgement?"

"Tch." Natsume growled at let go of my arm, pushing me back in the process.

My temper flared and I glared at him.

"Listen, _Hyuuga_," I said his name as though it were poison, "Do not think for a second that you know me or that just because I am now working with the Academy that I will allow you to act like an ass and get away with it. Because I won't. I am doing what I am doing because I am sick of being controlled by different people: first by the Academy, then by Hana, now by Akihiko. I have no other reason. Get that through your head and get over it. While the majority do, not everyone has ulterior motives.."

This time it was me who shoved him.

"I'm going back to class. If you need to talk to me, you can drop by my room after class. Right now, I don't have the time or the patience to listen to the rest of your crap. Class starts in 2 minutes."

* * *

**Natsume POV**

I glared after her figure, shaking my head when her gait went from smooth and graceful to clumsy and bouncy when she stepped through the doors of class B.

I wanted Mikan to be telling the truth. Honestly, I really did, but other than words she had given me no other proof that what she said was true. She had definitely _seemed_ truthful, but she had been trained from birth. Mikan was raised to be a liar.

The first bell trilled though the school for a good ten seconds before shutting off. I still didn't move from where I stood.

If I didn't trust her, I could get in trouble with Persona, Hotaru, and if we could get the bracelet off, Mikan. The first two would probably just make life hell for me, but Mikan might get pissed and not talk to me or something...

If I did trust her, we would A) be wrong all all and up dead or B) be right and win.

Crossing my arms over my chest I growled in annoyance before walking over to the classroom door. Upon sliding it open though, only years of hard training prevented me from turning around and walking away.

"Narumi," I said slowly, eyeing him warily, "What the _hell_ are you wearing?"

Violet eyes doing this weird sparkling... thing... upon seeing me, Narumi jumped at me, arms wide open for a hug.

"Natsume-kun~!" he said happily. "You're here!"

I side-stepped and watched apathetically as he smashed into the wall behind me. He stood up soon after and rubbed the side of his face that had hit the wall the hardest, where a red mark was appearing, before brushing off his dress. His big, pink, sparkly, 1800's style dress. After inspecting for rips and tears he flipped his hair and adjusted his crown.

Once again: What the hell?

Noticing I was staring at him he smiled and said, "You've noticed my costume I see. I'm the fairy godmother! Isn't it fabulous?"

"..."

"I'm glad you agree! Now, come with me and we will go get you fitted for your prince charming costume." Insert squeal. "You're gonna look _great!_"

I turned around and began walking through the door.

"Natsume?" Narumi asked in confusion. "Where are you going? Natsume? No! Don't leave!"

All of the sudden his voice became slightly muffled as though he were turned away. I didn't look back to check.

"Mikan-chan! Help! Natsume is _leaving_!"

"Ehhhh?" A voice asked in reply. Footsteps. Next thing I knew, Mikan was latched onto my right arm and dragging me back into the room.

I glared at her angrily.

"Let. Go. Now." I ground out, gritting my teeth.

She just giggled and smiled oh-so-fakely before leaning over to whisper in my ear.

"If I have to go through this useless crap, I'm taking you with me," she told me in a bland voice. Then she leaned away and went back to acting.

"No way Natsume!" she exclaimed loudly. "You have to do this! You're playing prince charming after all and everyone else has to do this as well..."

A chorus of grumbles with one "yeah!" from Koko came in response to her words and my scowl deepened as I watched cloths being made by those with sewing Alice or ones that worked with material. That one girl with the pink hair was currently twirling around in a dress that I assumed was for her part as the not-so-wicked step sister. Her best friend sat next to her, giggling and commenting on her cloths. Girls...

I blinked when I was shoved through one of the makeshift dressing rooms set up around the class and I saw what could only be my costume set up on a mannequin.

Were those... tights?

* * *

**Normal POV**

Mikan giggled, holding her hand firmly against her mouth in a failing attempt to not laugh.

_'Are those tights?'_ she thought mentally, her internal calmness a high contrast from her external hyperness.

Natsume stood outside of the changing room, glaring daggers at anything and everything, a faint blush on his cheeks.

He had on grey tights with a white blouse that had puffy sleeves and a navy blue tunic with gold lining over it. A black belt was strapped around his waist and he had simple brown boots that came mid-calf on his feet.

He looked ridiculous.

Mikan's attempt to not laugh "failed" and she fell on the floor, holding her stomach as her loud giggles filled the room.

"_Narumi!_" Natsume snarled as the temperature in the room went up a few degrees. The blond froze where he was, which was half way out the door, and paled.

"Ha ha ha..." he chuckled nervously. "Yes, Natsume-kun?"

"Change it now." he demanded.

"Uh... change what, Natsume-kun?"

"This damn stupid costume, you idiot! There is no way in hell that I am wearing _tights_." He spat the last worst, making a face of disgust. "You have ten seconds to agree before you go up in flames.

Narumi bolted.

Natsume followed, shooting fireballs at his feet the entire way and when Narumi was dragged back to class B later that day by a fuming Natsume Hyuuga, he was covered in soot and burn marks. No one pitied him.

"Ah!" Mikan exclaimed happily upon seeing them. She laced her fingers together and smiled. "There you two are."

"Hello, Mikan-chan... how are you?" Narumi asked weakly from the floor where Natsume had dropped him.

"Oh, great sensei! I got my dress for the ball already done and the rest of the costumes are nearly finished as well. It really helps to have so many Alices that are good with sewing." she said, seemingly oblivious to her teachers disheveled state.

"That's nice..."

"Yup!"

"So when do I get to see it?"

"Umm... not until the show, you know? Anna and Nonoko said that I should wait until opening night so that it would be a surprise." Mikan giggled.

"Oh."

"Oh." Mikan agreed.

He began to stand up shakily, Natsume glaring over his shoulder.

"Well..." he said, "I'll just be going now. I need to have some one redesign Natsume-kun's costume..."

"Damn straight..." Natsume mumbled before glancing at Mikan.

She was staring at him with a blank expression, her head cocked slightly to one side.

"... What?" he asked.

"Mm... Nothing really," Mikan drawled. "Just thinking about how stupid you look like that."

She dug a cellphone out of her skirt pocket and flipped it open.

_Click!_

"Because I think that I will appreciate this photo once the bracelet is removed. That and for future blackmail." she informed him before turning around and walking away. "Ja ne."

**So the ending of this chapter was so-so I think. IDK, what's you guys opinion? Maybe I should re-write that last part... I might do it later, so I'll tell you guys if I do.**

**REVIEW!**


	42. Chapter 40

**Wow... so this is the 40th chapter... I am going to be wrapping this up before it can even get close to 50 if eveything goes according to plan (so there will probably be another 3 or four chapters before this is all done) This also means that I am going to start writing really long chapter so that I can accomplish this so expect 2-3,000 word chapters from here on out ^^ I really should have ended this all a long time ago but... yeah. ^_^"**

**Nya... sorry it's been so long since the last update! I kinda hit a mental roadblock on how I wanted to do the next chapter and... yeah... But! The road block has been officially torn apart by a tornado and here I am! ^_^''**

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! And on with the story...**

**Time Skip~ Time Skip~!**

**(Day of the battle)**

Hazel eyes narrowed in concentration, Mikan aimed a powerful kick at her opponents knees hoping to knock them out from underneath him but of course it didn't work. He was just that good.

Trying to buy time, Mikan shot three blades of wind at him before darting back to catch her breath, trying not to show the exhaustion that she was feeling as a result of fighting the man.

This wasn't working.

Mikan knew that at this rate and the level she was currently at, she would never be able to defeat him, but she had planned on this and so she had devised a special trick to win. This was where deception came in.

Feigning more fatigue than she was really feeling (though half of it was real), Mikan let her knees tremble in exhaustion before giving away. She collapsed to the ground like a puppet that had it's strings cut, gasping for air the entire time. And since they had been battling for almost an hour now, it was believable. So when he had run up to her, green eyes flashing maliciously and readying himself to give the finishing blow, he never expected for her to leap up just six feet away from him, close the distance with blinding speed, her hand covered in the most malicious looking Alice he had ever seen.

Mikan let out a wild battle cry and plunged her hand towards his heart.

* * *

**2 days earlier**

They were all sitting in a large meeting room, all of the DA and other fighters collected there for a mass meeting that went over the battle plans. They would be spending a lot of time here for the next two days, planning and going over and changing battle formations and such. The rest of the time would be used to ready weapons. No one i the DA was attending class in preparation. Currently, Mikan was going over the part that she would play and was just about to be done with her miniature speech.

"... And I will be the one to kill him." Mikan stated with such finality that no one dared protest.

Except for Natsume.

"Are you stupid?" he drawled, crimson eyes hard, and a stare down between the teens began.

"I could ask you the same thing," Mikan quipped blandly and Natsume snorted in response.

"You still have the bracelet on and for all we know Akihiko could control you with it somehow. Unless Imai can get it off you, you can't-"

"It will not work." Mikan interrupted.

A murmur ran through the room and Person watched on without a word.

"And tell me: how do you know this?"

"The bracelet," she began dully, "Is simply used to seal my 'useless' and good emotions while at the same time enhancing the part of me that make me quick to anger and or violence. Apparently anger is the only emotion that was deemed fit for me. But even so, Akihiko cannot control me with it. It's on my wrist and doing its job but nothing more. Are we clear?"

She quirked and eyebrow at him and Natsume growled in annoyance.

"I agree with Natsume," a voice suddenly said next to them and every eye in the room turned to see who spoke. Serio Persona stared back with a frown.

"Excuse me?" Mikan hissed.

"I agree," he stated again. "You need to have all of your emotions there and thoughts clear even if others say that said emotions will cloud your judgement. It's obviously the other way around with you otherwise we wouldn't be in this mess."

A few soft chuckles were heard around the room, but Mikan didn't crack a smile. He was serious.

"Fine." she said agreeably and Natsume and Persona both frowned at how easy it was to get her to agree.

"Good..." her surrogate brother said slowly, "Now-"

"You say if I can get it off I fight?" A nod. "Does it matter what I do to get it removed...?"

"No."

Mikan cocked her head slightly before blinking once.

"Good."

For some reason Persona felt like he had made a very bad mistake and instantly regretted his words as Mikan turned and began to walk out of the room.

"Oy, where are you going?" Natsume called after her when she reached the door.

Mikan just turned back to him and with a fake smile and sugary sweet voice said, "To go get this damn thing removed of course. Ja ne."

She shut the door behind her.

* * *

Walking through the maze of halls that was the underground base of the academy Mikan smirked to herself, just because she knew that if she could feel and was her old self, she would most defiantly be doing it.

Because she knew _exactly_ what she was going to do.

It really was a good think that Nii-san had given her permission to do whatever was needed to regain her emotions again because what she had planned was rather... extreame depending on how you looked at it.

"I had had my reservations about doing this, but, I think that it will be worth it," she murmured to herself.

Twenty minutes later Mikan would find herself in her dorm, sitting on the edge of her bathtub with her feet in the actual tub and her katana sitting on her lap. Various Alice stones were laying around the edge of the bath in only two colors: a sky blue and golden yellow. There were three of each kind and Mikan knew that by the end of what she was doing that they would all be gone. There was a white bottle with pills sitting beside it all, on top of the stack of clean white towels.

Mikan took a deep breath and took her sword out of its sheath with her right had and palmed two of the Alice stones - one blue one gold - at the same time.

One more deep breath.

She then raised her right arm up high, directly over the bracelet, holding the left one as far away as physically possible, and brought the sword down.

Her screams could be heard all throughout the dorms.

* * *

The only evidence left of what she had just done was the blood that was being washed down the drain and the string of beads that was laying at the bottom of the tub.

Mikan squeezed her left hand into a fist, noticing with a large amount of relief that there was only a slight pinch that came with movement that she knew would go away soon. Other than the thin white scar that ran all the way around her wrist, one would never known that she'd lost her hand, and gotten it back again. It had gone much better that expected, she thought to herself.

The Alice of regeneration truly was an amazing thing. And coupled with the Alice of healing it made the arguably insane feat she had just made possible. Mentally she thanked herself for taking those Alice stones from the ESP's personal collection when she had the chance.

So, re-growing a limb was a painful thing to do, but in the end, it did serve its purpose because Mikan was no longer under the power of Akihiko's Alice.

Pale and shaky, she reached for the white bottle full of pills and shook out two rusty colored capsules. She downed the blood pills without water, knowing that if she wanted her blood supply to replenish quickly that she would need to take two probably every hour for the rest of the day.

And then she smiled, and for the first time in years, it was real.

When Mikan stood up, she only stumbled slightly before making her way over to her cell phone on her dresser. She noticed with a small frown that her room was awfully bland and empty other than the necessities and she blamed that on the lack of emotions. Her other self had deemed them unnecesary and so, she had gotten rid of them.

"I'm really going to have to redo this room..." she said with a sigh, picking up the phone and punching in a certain persons number.

After just two rings he picked up.

_"Hello?"_ Natsume asked blandly on the other end.

"Hey there cutie! What's up?" Mikan asked with a snicker. It was good to be back.

_"Mikan?"_ he asked in disbelief.

"No," She deadpanned, "It's the boogy man calling you."

Mikan laughed at the silence that came from Natsume's end before letting out a small yelp of surprise when the world wobbled dangerously and she fell back and onto her butt.

"Ow..." Mikan complained.

_"You... are you okay?"_ Natsume asked.

"Yeah, just a little bit dizzy. Blood loss does that to you."

_"Blood loss?"_ he asked before realized just what she had done._ "What the hell? You _idiot!_"_ he snapped at her.

But even though he was shouting at her, he knew that he was glad. Mikan just smiled as she listened to him rant before inturrupting him.

"So..." she asked conversationally. "When are you going to come over, kitty-chan?"

Natsume sighed loudly.

_"Be there in five." _ he replied and Mikan could just tell that he was scowling on the other end.

And she just grinned.

"It's a date."

**So, all in all a happy ending. Yes, Mikan is insane, but for some reason I just had to have her get the bracelet off like that. I don't know... Wondering what the whole future preview thing was about? I dunno that either. I just kinda wanted to put it there - keep you all wondering, you know? ^^**

**Well thanks for reading!**

**I have made a goal to have 550+ reviews by the end of this story, so please give me some feedback everyone!**

**Review!**


	43. General Consensus

Hello lovelies! So, as the general consensus for all of my stories seems to be: "rewrite it or whatever - just make sure to finish it!" that is exactly what I will be doing.

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, a few weeks back I posted a note asking whether or not I should rewrite this and all of my other stories because I have lost motivation in the way it currently is and want to rework everything. Reworking includes: closing plot holes, fixing the crappiness that my stories currently are, longer chapters, better plot, and much much more. THIS note, is my response to everyone else's, well, responses.

To all of you who left me proper opinions: Thank you very much. To the rest of you who did things like say: "OMG, lyk, just finish it, k? Cuz I wuna read the story n if ur not motivated or whtevur then thats ur problem. So finish du story" You people are dumb and your opinion means nothing to me, especially if you can't even write the word "like" correctly.

To everyone who has stuck with me: I love you guys and starting now I will be rewriting all of my stories and you can expect the first chapter followed by weekly to biweekly updates for each story by the end of June at the very latest. I'm aiming for sometime in May, but, you know. Life. *shrugs*

The reason I am going to take so much time (is two months maximum a long time?) is because I want to rewrite most of what, if not all, I have written so far so that there aren't very long periods of time between updates and because that's just how I want to do it. The story, by the way, will be posted as a NEW STORY and the old one will remain as is, though incomplete. Names will more likely than not be similar to original, and if I am not on your Author Alert already, i would recommend putting me on there so that you know when the stories go up. Please do look out for it, because I think that it's going to be really great. Love you guys!

*You may review this chapter if you wish as I will be keeping this note up for any and all that wander by this story and want to know why it stops where it does.

~Ichigo Maaka


	44. Remake is up!

**For those of you who were wanting to know: the remake is now up. This is the same case as with the rest of my stories.**

**~Ichigo**

**:)**


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